IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0     H"^ 


2.5 


2.2 


I.I 


us 

lU 


140 


2.0 


1.25 


I 

Hm! 

m 


U   116 


Photographic 

Sdaices 

Corporation 


4 


V 


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23  WIST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4S03 


// 


3 


,.<^, 


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J 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductlons  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notas  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Instituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniquo. 
which  may  altar  any  of  the  imagaa  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
tha  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


r~l   Covers  damaged/ 


D 


Couverture  endommag^ 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  at/ou  peliiculie 


I — I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


□   Coloured  maps/ 
Cartea  gAographiquaa  an  couleur 


D 
D 
D 
D 


n 


n 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  then  blue  or  black)/ 
Encra  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noirel 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illuatrations/ 
Planchea  at/ou  illuatrationa  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avac  d'autrea  documenta 


Tight  binding  may  cauae  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  cauaar  de  Tombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  l«  long  d«  la  marge  intftrieura 

Blank  leaves  added  during  reatoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pagea  blanches  ajoutioa 
tors  d'une  reatauration  apparaiaaent  dana  le  texte. 
maia.  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  cea  pagea  n'ont 
paa  6t*  film^as. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl^mentairas; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lul  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Las  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibi!ographiqua,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dana  la  mtthoda  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 

□   Coloured  pages/ 
Pagea  de  couNur 

Q   Pagea  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^as 

I — I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


D 


Pages  restauries  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxei 
Pages  dicolories,  tacheties  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

Showthroughy 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  inAgala  de  {'impression 

Includes  supplementary  matarii 
Comprend  du  material  supplAmantaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


r~~^  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

r~|  Pages  detached/ 

r~7]  Showthrough/ 

r~]  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

□  Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Coi 

rn  Only  edition  available/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partieilement 
obacurcias  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmies  i  nouveau  de  facon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiquA  ci-deaaoua. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


lira 

details 
i«s  du 
modifier 
lar  une 
filmage 


The  copy  filmad  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of : 

D.  B.  WtMon  Ubrary 
Univmriity  of  WMtern  Ontario 

The  images  oppeering  here  are  the  best  quaiity 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibiiity 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  filmA  f ut  reproduit  grAce  k  la 
gAnArosit*  da: 

D.  B.  WaMon  Ubrary 
Univaraity  of  Wattam  Ontario 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  «t4  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettet*  de  rexemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


ie» 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimte  sont  filmto  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  --^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symboie  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clichA,  11  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


errata 
j  to 


a  pelure. 

:on  i 


n 

32X 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

t« 


■m 


>« 


THOUGHTS 


ON    DEVOTION    TO 


THE  SACRED  HEART, 


AND  ALSO  ON 


ill 


% 


I 


'• 


1^ 


THE    J.IFE    AND    WORK 


or  ous 


BLESSED    LORD. 


n 


Bight    Bev.    JTOHN    WALSH,  »»    »., 

Bishop  of  LoQf^on,  Ontario. 


NEW   YORK: 
P.    O'SHEA, 

46  Warbbh  SrK?iijr\ 
1881 


I 


PREFACE. 


The  following  "  Thoughts  "  were  written  for  the 
edification  and  inBtruction  of  the  flock  committed 
to  our  care.  Some  friends  have  urged  us  to  consent 
to  their  publication  in  their  present  form,  in  the 
hope  that  they  might  in  this  way  reach  a  greater 
number  of  readers,  and  might  perhaps  help  to  pro- 
mote, in  a  wider  sphere,  devotion  to  the  "  Sacred 
Heart,"  and  love  and  gratitude  to  our  Blessed  Lord, 
in  all  the  manifestations  of  His  infinite  goodness 
and  love.  In  this  hope  and  for  this  sole  purpose  are 
they  published.  They  are  preceded  by  the  late  Denis 
Florence  McCarthy's  beautiful  lines  on  "  The  Con- 
secration of  Ireland  to  the  Sacred  Heart,"  the 
perusal  of  which  will  doubtless  afford  our  readerf 
pleasure  and  profit. 
London,  Ontario, 
Feoit  of  th«  Annunciation, 
1884. 


Ireland'^    j3oN^Eci\ATiof( 


TO 


^HE     ^ACF{ED     jiZAY{T. 


By  Denis  Florence  MacCarthy. 


Where'er  beneath  the  Saving  Bood 

Tlie  nation  kneels  to  pray, 
A  holy  bond  of  brotherhood 

Unites  us  all  to-day ; 
From  North  to  South,  from  East  to  West, 

From  circling  sea  to  sea, 
lerne  bares  hei*  bleeding  breast, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  1 

She  bares  her  breast,  whicli  many  a  wound, 
Which  many  a  blow  made  sore, 

What  time  the  martyred  Mother  swooned 
Insensate  in  her  gore. 


I 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 

But,  ah,  she  could  not  die;  no!  not 

One  germ  of  hfe  had  she— 
The  love  that  twined  through  weal,  through 
woe, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  I 

She  gave  her  sighs,  she  gave  her  tears 

To  Thee,  O  Heart  divine ! 
She  gave  her  blood,  for  countless  years, 

Like  water  or  like  wine; 
And  now  that  in  her  horoscope 

A  happier  fate  we  see; 
She  consecrates  her  future  hope, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee! 

She  consecrates  her  glorious  past— 

For  glorious  'tis,  though  sad, 
Bright,  though  with  many  a  cloud   over- 
cast; 

Though  gloomy,  yet  how  glad! 
For  through   the  wilds   that   round   her 
spread. 

How  darksome  they  might  be, 
One  light  along  the  desert  led, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  1 


^ 


•  ft 


^ 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 

She  consecrates  her  dark  despair, 

Though  brightened  from  above- 
She  consecrates  her  Piitrick^s  prayer— 

Her  Bridget's  burning  love — 
Her  Brendan  sailing  over  seas, 

That  none  had  dared  but  he— 
These,  and  a  thousand  such  as  these, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  I 

And  even  the  present,  though  it  be, 

Alas  1  unwisely  sage — 
Its  icy- cold  philosophy. 

Its  stained  historic  page, 
Its  worship  of  brute  force  and  strength 

That  leaves  no  impulse  free — 
She  hopes  to  consecrate  at  length, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee ! 

But  oh !  forgive  what  I  have  said— 

Forgive,  O  Heart  divine! 
'Tis  Thou  hast  suffered,  Thou  hast  bled. 

And  not  this  land  of  mine  I 
'Tis  Thou  hast  bled  for  sins  untold 

That  God  alone  doth  see — 
The  insults  done,  so  manifold, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  I 


* 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 

For  ud,  but  not  for  us  alone, 

We  consecrate  our  land, 
The  holy  Pontiff's  plundered  throne 

Doth  still  our  prayers  demand; 
That  soon  may  end  the  robber  reign, 

And  soon  the  Cross  be  free, 
And  Rome  repentant,  turn  again, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  I 

One  valiant  band,  O  Lord,  from  us 

A  special  prayer  should  claim-— 
The  soldiers  of  Ignatius, 

Who  bear  Thy  holy  name. 
Still  guard  them  on  their  glorious  tra^k, 

Still  victors  let  them  be. 
In  leading  the  lost  nations  back, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee. 


Like  some  tired  bird,  whose  hom<)ward 
flight 

Heseeks  its  distant  nest, 
Ah,  let  my  song  once  more  alight 

Upon  my  country's  breast. 
There,  let  it  rest,  to  roam  no  more* 

Avoiding  the  decree 


% 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 

That  lifts  my  soul,  its  wanderings  o^er, 
O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  1 

Then  break,  ye  circling  seas,  in  smiles, 

And  sound,  ye  streams,  in  song, 
Ye  thousand  ocean-girdled  isles, 

The  joyous  strain  prolong- 
In  one  grand  chorus.  Lord,  we  pray, 

With  Heaven,  and  Earth,  and  Sea, 
To  consecrate  our  land  to-day, 

O  Sacred  Heart  to  Thee  I 


V 


L 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


11 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


The  profound  wisdom  and  untiring  zeal 
with  which  our  Holy  Mother,  the  Church, 
prosecutes  her  sublime  mission  of  saving  souls, 
and  of  extending  the  reign  of  Christ  on  the 
earth,  is  a  subject  which  challenges  the  admi- 
ration and  gratitude  of  mankind.  Animated 
and  illumined  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is  her 
life,  she  puts  forth  ail  her  heaven-given  re- 
sources to  supply  the  spiritual  wants  of  man, 
and  to  save  from  eternal  ruin,  the  world  re- 
deemed in  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  Like 
unto  the  good  shepherd,  she  goes  in  search  of 
the  lost  sheep,  tenderly  binds  up  the  wounds 
it  received  in  its  wanderings,  and  with  joy 
brings  it  hone  to  the  shelter  of  the  fold.  She 
gives  the  food  of  revealed  truth  to  the  hungry 
intellect,  and  an  all-satisfying  object  of  love 
to  the  yearning  heart.     She  has  a  balm  for 


» 


SOME  THOUGflTS. 


every  affliction,  relief  for  every  misery,  and 
consolation  for  the  dark  sorrows  that  afflict 
humanity.  With  the  tender  care  and  sleep- 
less vigilance  of  a  fond  mother,  she  watches 
over  our  spiritual  welfare,  and  labors  to  in- 
sure our  eternal  happiness. 

As  each  age  has  its  own  special  wants,  and 
its  own  moral  epidemics,  she  draws  forth  from 
her  inexhaustible  treasure-house  of  grace,  the 
helps  that  are  needed,  and  the  remedies  re- 
quired, for  the  healing  of  the  sick  nations. 
Hence  the  various  devotions  that  have  ever  and 
anon  sprung  up  in  her  bosom  with  all  the 
beauty  and  variety  of  summer  flowers,  putting 
forth  the  blossoms  and  fruits  of  virtue  and 
sanctity,  and  filling  the  air  with  a  perfume  of 
sweetest  fragrance,  "exhaling  the  good  odor 
of  Christ  unto  salvation."  0,  it  is  good  for 
us  to  be  her  children,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be 
with  Christ  and  his  apostles  on  this  holy 
Mount  of  Thabor,  on  which  we  see  the  entranc- 
ing vision  of  revealed  truth  and  holiness,  and 
the  luminous  cloud  of  Christian  virtues  that 


^ 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


18 


may  not  be  Been  amongst  the  seots  below  in 
the  mist-covered  valley!  What  child-like  in- 
nocence; what  stainless  purity  of  life,  has  she 
not  fostered  by  devotions  to  Christ's  blessed 
Mother;  what  countless  virgins,  pure  as  the 

lily,  has  she  not  induced  to  follow  the 
heavenly  bridegroom,  by  holding  up  to  their 

enraptured  gaze,  the  virgin  without  stain  I 
How  many  hearts  grown  hard  in  sin  has  she 
not  melted  into  deep  compunction?  what 
streams  of  penitential  tears  has  she  not  caused 
to  flow  down  the  cheeks  'of  sinners  by  her  de- 
votion of  the  way  of  the  cross*?  And  now 
that  the  charity  of  many  has  grown  cold,  that 
faith  has  lost  its  freshness  and  vigor,  that  a 
dead  sea  of  indifferentism  has  spread  abroad 
over  the  earth,  the  holy  Church  holds  up  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  all,  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus, 
burning  with  love  for  us,  calls  on  the  perish- 
ing world  to  return  to  its  divine  Saviour  and 
live;  and  behold,  many  peoples  that  were  in- 
different give  ear,  and  the  tepid  are  aroused 
from  their  lethargy^  and  faith  revives,  and 


14 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


charity  is  inflamed,  and  the  "  ages  of  faith " 
are  in  many  places  brought  back  again. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  dwell  on  the  considera- 
tion of  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus,  which  the  holy  Church  so  urgently 
recommends  to  her  children  at  this  particular 
time,  and  we  shall  And  that  the  object  and  end 
of  this  devotion  are  such,  as  to  appeal  with  a 
mighty  power  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
every  Christian;  are  such  as  to  draw  the  soul 
as  with  the  cords  of  Adam  and  the  bands  of 
love  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  to  its  merci- 
ful and  loving  Saviour,  who  on  that  blessed 
rood  purchased  it  with  a  great  price,  and  died  a 
cruel  death  that  it  might  have  everlasting  life. 

The  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  was  always  an 
object  of  devotion  and  adoration  in  the  Church, 
for  it  is  the  Heart  of  the  God-Man,  and  is 
deified  by  its  hypostatic  union  with  the  Di- 
vinity. This  devotion  is  the  same  in  sub- 
stance as  that  which  is  paid  to  the  adorable 
person  of  Jesus  Christ  whose  Sacred  Heart  was 
the  seat  and  center  of  His  ineffable  love  for  us. 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


15 


Christ  was  very  God  and  very  Man.  His  hu- 
man and  divine  natures  were  perfectly  dis- 
tinct, and  yet  were  hypostatically  united  in 
the  adorable  person  of  our  blessed  Redeemer, 
the  second  person  of  the  most  blessed  Trinity. 
The  divinity  and  humanity  do  not  separately, 
but  unitedly  exist  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  exclusively 
exists  in  any  part  of  His  glorious  person,  the 
union  of  the  two  natures  being  a  real  indis- 
soluble and  eternal  union.  This  is  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Church  on  this  important  subject, 
and  it  follows  from  it,  that  each  part  of  our 
Lord's  sacred  body  is  equally  worthy  of  adora- 
tion, from  its  personal  union  with  the  Di- 
vinity, but  we  are  sometimes  more  powerfully 
moved  by  the  contemplation  of  one  part  than 
by  that  of  another.  In  the  language  of  man- 
kind, the  heart  is  said  to  be  the  seat  of  the 
affections.  The  soul  operates  principally  upon 
the  heart,  and  hence  we  ascribe  to  the  heart 
the  various  affections  and  emotions  of  the 
soul.    Hence  it  is  that  God,  accomodating 


M 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


I  * 


Himself  to  our  human  notions,  commands  us 
to  love  Ilim  **with  our  whole  hearts."  The 
Heart  of  Jesus  contains  the  fullness  of  the 
divine  and  human  nature,  in  it  ^'dwelleth 
all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  corporally" 
(OoUos.  II.  0.  y.  9).  It  loved  us  from  the 
first  moment  of  the  Incarnation,  and  will  love 
us  for  evermore.  Since  the  time  it  was  pierced 
by  the  lance  of  the  Koman  soldier,  it  was  an 
object  of  the  deep  vehement  love  of  His 
children,  and  together  with  the  blood  and 
water,  there  flowed  with  them  the  full  tide  of 
God's  graces  and  mercies  on  the  world.  St. 
Augustine  says,  the  side  of  Jesus  was  opened 
for  him  by  the  lance,  and  that  he  entered  in 
and  abode  in  the  Sacred  Heart  as  in  a  place 
of  secure  refuge.  St.  Bernard  writes  in  sen- 
timents of  most  tender  devotion  concerning 
the  Heart  of  Jesus.  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin 
pictured  that  most  loving  heart  as  wounded 
for  our  sins,  and  pouring  out  through  the 
opening  its  precious  blood,  to  show  the  excess 
of  His  love,  and  to  inflame  with  His  love  th« 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


17 


tepici  learts  of  His  disciples.  St.  Bernardino 
of  Sii  nna,  speaks  of  this  divine  Heart  as  "a 
furnace  of  the  most  ardent  love,  capable  of 
setting  the  whole  world  on  fire."  "0  love!'* 
cries  out  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  "0  sovereign 
love  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus!  What  heart  can 
praise  and  bless  Thee  as  Thou  dost  deserve! 
Let  this  adorable  Heart  live  forever  in  our 
hearts." 

In  adoring  the  Sacred  Heart,  we  adore 
Jesn3  Himself,  the  figure  of  the  Father's  sub- 
stance, and  the  splendor  of  His  glory;  we 
adore  Him  whom  the  angels  and  saints  adore 
in  Heaven,  of  whom,  when  coming  into  the 
world,  it  was  said,  "let  all  the  angels  of  God 
adore  Him"  (Heb.  ch.  iv.  vi.)  "We  adore 
and  love  our  dearest  Redeemer,  our  God  and 
our  All,  our  first  beginning  and  last  end. 
Him,  who  for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation, 
came  down  from  Heaven  and  became  man, 
who  stooped  into  the  abyss  of  our  nothing- 
ness in  assuming  human  nature,  "emptied 
Himself,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  taking  the  form  of 


18 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


a  servant;  being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men, 
and  in  habit  found  as  a  man;  He  humbled 
Himself,  becoming  obedient,  even  unto  the 
death  of  the  cross"  (Phil.  oh.  2,  vii.  viii.) 
"We  adore  that  divine  and  loving  Ucart,  every 
throb  and  beat  of  which  were  for  our  salva- 
tion and  happiness,  the  Heart  of  Him  who 
broke  not  the  bruised  reed,  and  the  smoking 
flax  did  not  extinguish,  who  was  the  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners.  Wo  adore  that  divine 
Heart,  which  still,  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar,  abides  with  us  in  this  valley  of  tears  to 
cheer  our  exile,  to  dry  up  the  tears  of  our 
sorrow,  to  heal  the  wounded  heart,  to  dart 
into  our  bosoms  the  flames  of  divine  charity 
that  glow  and  burn  in  It,  and  to  cast  on  the 
cold,  bleak  earth,  the  fire  of  love  which 
Christ  came  upon  the  earth  to  enkindle. 
Well  may  we  cry  out  with  the  Church,  **  0 
Felix  culpa,  quae  talent  ac  tantutrij  meruit 
habere  Redemptorem."  0,  happy  sin  which 
deserved  to  have  such  and  so  great  a  Re- 
deemer, whose  Sacred  Heart  abides  with  us 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


19 


forever.  **  0,  mira  circa  nos  turn  pietatis 
dignatioJ*  0,  wonderful  and  ineffable  con- 
descension of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  for 
us  I  What  heart  so  cold  as  not  to  return  It 
love  for  love,  what  bosom  so  dead  to  gratitude 
and  to  all  the  noble  impulses  of  our  nature  as 
not  to  be  forever  loyal  and  true  to  It!  If  I 
forget  thee,  0  Sacred  Heart,  let  my  right 
hand  be  forgotten,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to 
my  jaws,  if  I  do  not  make  thee  the  beginning 
of  my  joys  and  the  burden  of  my  praise. 
**  As  the  heart  panteth  after  the  fountains  of 
waters,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  0  God; 
my  soul  hath  thirsted  after  the  strong  living 
God.  I  shall  go  over  into  the  place  of  the 
wonderful  tabernacle,  even  to  the  house  of 
God"  (Ps.  41),  wherein  the  Heart  of  Jesus 
abides  in  the  sacrament  of  His  love.  Such 
are  the  sentiments  that  must  fill  the  soul, 
such  the  ardent  desires  and  the  vehement 
longings  for  Heaven  and  for  God,  that  must 
inflame  all  who  contemplate  and  adore  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus. 


;n 


20 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


But  we  not  only  adore  the  Sacred  Heart  as 
being  a  principal  part  of  the  adorable  body  of 
our  Lord,  we  also  profoundly  adore  the  infinite 
abysmal  love  of  God  for  us,  of  wliich  the 
Sacred  Heart  is  a  living  symbol.  The  love  the 
incarnate  God  bore  us  is  an  unfathomable 
abyss,  which  the  plummet-line  of  human  intel- 
ligence can  never  fathom.  The  prophet  said 
of  the  sorrow  of  our  crucified  Lord,  that  it  was 
as  great  as  the  sea.  We  may  also  truly  say,  that 
his  love  for  us  was  as  vast,  as  deep,  as  boundless, 
as  the  ocean.  St.  Paul  is  ravished  with  trans- 
ports of  joy  as  he  contemplates,  with  all  the 
saints,  "the  breadth  and  length  and  height 
and  depth  of  the  charity  of  Christ,  which  sur- 
passeth  all  understanding"  (Eph.  ch.  IIL  v. 
xviii).  The  Sacred  Heart  reminds  us  forcibly 
of  the  infinite  love,  which  brought  the  Son  of 
God  down  from  Heaven  to  redeem  us;  which 
induced  Him  to  become  poor  that  He  might 
make  us  rich  with  the  riches  of  Heaven;  which 
caused  Him  to  spend  thirty-tliree  years  here  on 
earth,  in  poverty,  humiliation,  and  sufferings. 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


for  our  sakes — of  that  ineffable  and  tender 
love  that  animated  the  Good  Shepherd,  that 
forgave  the  Magdalen,  that   burned  in  the 
bosom  of  the  father  of  the  prodigal — of  that 
compassionate  love  that  moved  II im  to  shed 
tears  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  over  the  doomed 
city  of  Jerusalem,  and  over  thousands  of  un- 
I'epenting  souls,  of  which  Jerusalem  is  the 
type — that  dried  the  tears  of  the  widow  of 
Nairn,  and  restored  the  buried  Lazarus  to  the 
embraces  of  his  sisters — of  that  all-embracing 
love  that  excluded  no  child  of  Adam  from  its 
circle,  not  even  the  cruel  enemies  that  flogged 
and  crucified  the  Redeemer,  and  put  Him  to 
death :     "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do:"T-of  that  love  that  would 
gather  His  children  around  Him,  even  as  the 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings. 
The    love  of   the   Sacred  Heart  is    a    per- 
severing love — Ho  was  made  man  through 
love  for  us,  and  from  the  moment  of  His  in- 
carnation to  Hisdeath,  He  never  ceased  to  love 
us.     He  died  to  teach  us  his  love,  and  sitting 


It 


i 


r> 


m  SOME  TnOUOHTS. 

at  the  right  of  His  Father  in  tho  glory  of 
Heayen  He  loves  us  still,  always  living  to  make 
intercession  for  us,  and  on  the  countless  altars 
of  Oatliolicity  Ho  loves  us  with  undying  love 
in  the  most  holy  sacrament;  it  is  a  patient 
love  which  waits  for  our  conversion,  pleads 
with  us  to  give  Him  our  hearts,  pursues  us  in 
our  wanderings,  and  brings  us  back  to  the  fold 
rejoicing — an  imperial,  omnipotent  love,  that 
broke  the  scepter  of  death,  that  destroyed  the 
empire  of  the  grave,  that  plucked  from  death 
its  sting,  and  from  hell  its  bite,  and  flung 
open  for  His  children  the  gates  of  Heaven, 
and  prepared  a  place  for  us  in  the  many  man- 
sions of  His  Father's  house — in  fine,  it  is  tho 
love  of  the  best  of  fathers,  of  the  most  affec- 
tionate of  brothers,  of  the  most  devoted  of 
friends:  "I  have  called  you  my  friends;"  "Go 
tell  my  brothers  that  I  will  meet  them  in 
Galileo/'  0,  ineffable  love,  inflame  our  tepid 
hearts  with  the  love  of  thee !  0,  Sacred  Heart 
of  Jesus,  we  implore,  that  we  may  ever  love 
thee  more  and  more. 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


The  end  aimed  at  by  the  Church  in  estab- 
lishing tlie  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  is, 
to  promote  God's  glory,  to  destroy  the  reign 
of  Sin,  and  to  inflame  the  hearts  of  men  with 
the  fire  of  divine  charity.  This  devotion  is 
also  intended  to  make  reparation  to  our  Lord, 
for  the  cold  neglect  and  ingratitude  with 
which  He  is  treated  in  the  blessed  sacrament. 
But  its  principal  aim  is,  to  cause  His  love  to 
be  loved.  The  mission  of  Jesus  Christ  upon 
the  earth,  was  to  enkindle  therein  the  fire  of 
divine  love.  I  have  come,  said  He,  to  cast 
fire  on  the  earth,  and  what  will  I  but  that  it 
be  kindled  (St.  Luke,  ch.  12,  v.  xlix.) 

When  our  blessed  Lord  came  in  the  incar- 
nation. He  found  the  world  steeped  in  cor- 
ruption, and  enveloped  in  the  thick  night  of 
paganism;  it  was  a  huge,  lifeless  carcass,  with 
the  coldness  and  palor  of  spiritual  death 
upon  it.  Everything  therein  was  worshiped 
save  the  true  God,  and  He  was  an  outlaw  in 
His  own  creation.  Our  divine  Redeemer 
eame,  enkindled  in  far  distant  Galileo  the 


K   J      i' 


I 


P 


il  1 


r 


! ; 


24 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


i 


fire  of  divine  love,  and  behold,  this  fire 
flames  out  and  spreads  from  ea,st  to  west, 
until  it  embraced  the  world  in  its  divine 
flames;  until  it  purged  and  purified  the  earth, 
and  made  it  a  new  creation;  and  in  the  words 
of  Holy  Writ,  "  renewed  the  face  of  the  earth." 
When  the  Sacred  Heart  began  to  beat  and 
palpitate  in  the  world,  the  idols  fell  shattered 
from  their  pedestals,  the  oracles  became 
dumb,  the  multifarious  errors  of  paganism 
disappeared  like  a  wrack  of  storm  clouds 
before  the  rising  sun,  and  regenerate  man 
rose  from  the  grave  of  spiritual  death,  and 
his  heart  was  changed  and  warmed  into  a 
new  life:  "  was  not  our  heart  burning  within 
us  whilst  He  spake  in  the  way  (Luke  ch.  24, 
v.  xxxii).  The  partrician  and  plebeian,  the 
noble  lady  and  lowly  handmaid,  the  soldier 
and  civilian,  men  and  women  of  every  state 
and  social  grade,  leave  all  for  the  love  of 
Christ,  because  Christ  first  loved  them,  and 
died  for  their  salvation.  "The  charity  of 
Christ  constrains  us  (says  8t.  Paul),  judging 


♦  I 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


« 


this,  that  if  one  died  for  all,  then  all  were 
dead;  and  Christ  died  for  all,  that  they  also 
who  live  may  not  live  to  themselves,  but  unto 
Him  who  died  for  them  and  rose  again  (II 
Cor.  eh.  5,  v.  xiv.  xv)." 

But,  alas!  the  fervor  and  the  love  of  God  that 
distinguished  the  early  Christians  have  disap- 
peared. The  times  are  now  dark  and  menac- 
ing; false  and  wicked  principles  are  in  the 
ascendant;  society  is  out  of  joint;  the  thrones 
that  are  still  erect  are  tottering  to  their  fall; 
the  apostles  of  a  degrading  and  unchristian 
philosophy  are  inoculating  the  world  with  the 
deadly  poison  of  their  false  and  pernicious 
teachings;  men  are  turning  their  backs  on 
the  Christian  Church  and  on  the  broken  rays 
of  truth  that  are  yet  reflected  through  the 
shattered  mirror  of  Protestant  Christianity, 
and  are  venturing  out  on  the  sea  of  life  with- 
oit  chart  or  compass  or  guiding  star,  to  be 
tossed  to  and  fro  «nd  carried  about  by  every 
wind  of  false  doctrines,  and  to  be  finally 
wrecked  as  to  their  eternal  happiness. 


•»1 


I 


\l 


ri 


if  I 


I' 


20 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


Never,  perhaps,  since  the  first  promulgation 
of  the  Gospel,  was  the  spirit  of  the  world  more 
dominant  amongst  mankind  than  it  is  at 
present.  Society  is  wounded  to  tlie  core. 
Great  moral  plague  spots  disfigure  and  putrefy 
it  and  eat  and  rot  their  way  to  its  very  heart. 
The  insatiable  thirst  for  gold,  the  idolatry  of 
wealth,  the  practical  ignoring  of  an  eternal 
world,  the  worldly  wisdom  that  now,  as  in  the 
days  of  St.  Paul,  scoffs  at  the  folly  of  the  Cross 
and  at  the  virtues  whicli  it  symbolizes — these 
are  the  characteristics  of  our  times,  and  they 
certainly  are  of  the  earth  earthly,  and  directly 
antagonistic  to  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  the 
teachings  of  tlie  Gospel.  Schools  have  been 
taken  from  under  the  protection  and  guardian- 
ship of  religiou,  and  have  been  stripped  of  their 
Christian  character.  The  godless  education 
imparted  therein  is  fast  dcchristianiziug 
modern  society.  It  is  true  that  this  system  of 
godless  education  aims  at  the  cultivation  of 
the  intellect  and  the  diffusion  of  knowlod.c^e, 
but  it  leaves  the  heart  a  moral  wilderness, 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


%i 


overgrown  with  rank  poisonous  weeds  %  id 
noxious  plants.  Under  the  baneful  influeuce 
of  this  unchristian  education,  children  are 
growing  up  without  piety,  without  respect  for 
parents,  witliout  veneration  for  old  age,  with- 
out obedience  to  civil  or  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity. They  are  fast  realizing  tlie  truth  of  the 
description  given  by  St.  Paul  of  those  who  in 
his  day  banished  God  from  education.:  "  And 
as  thev  liked  not  to  have  God  in  their  knowl- 
edge,  God  delivered  them  up  to  a  reprobate 
sense  to  do  those  things  which  are  not  conven- 
ient, proud,  haughty  inventors  of  evil  things, 
disobedient  to  parents,  dissolute,  without 
affection,  without  fidelit}'-,  without  mercy." 
(Rom.  1,  xxviii).  Another  dreadful  evil  of 
the  time  is  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  di- 
vorce. This  evil  aims  a  death  blow  at  the  very 
life  of  civil  and  religious  society.  Tlie  family 
^is  tlie  germ  of  all  other  societies,  the  base  of 
the  social  fabric,  the  well-spring  from  which 
civil  and  religious  societies  take  their  rise, 
the  corner-stone  of  Church  and  State.     For 


I,  •■  I 


»  SOME  THOUGHTS. 

what  is  the  State  but  an  organization  of  a 
certain  number  of  families  under  the  author- 
ity of  a  common  chief,  for  the  protection 
of  life  and  liberty,  and  for  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  ?  And  what  is  the  Church  but 
an  organization  of  Christian  families  under 
the  guidance  and  authority  of  a  common 
father,  for  the  protection  and  development 
of  tlieir  spiritual  life?  Hence,  what  the  root 
is  to  the  tree,  what  the  fountain  is  to  the  river 
that  flows  from  it,  what  the  foundation  is 
to  the  edifice  that  springs  up  from  it  in 
shape  and  beauty,  that  the  family  is  to 
the  State  and  to  the  Church.  From  it 
the  former  receives  its  citizens,  the  latter  its 
children.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  whatever 
affects  the  conservation  and  well-being  of  the 
family,  affects  also  the  conservation  and  well- 
being  of  society  at  large.  Whatever  affects 
its  honor,  its  purity,  its  sanctity,  affects  also 
the  honor,  purity  and  welfare  of  the  human 
race,  and  touches  the  very  apple  of  its  eye. 
Now,  as  society  rests  on  the  family,  even  so 


f 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


the  family  rests  upon  marriage  and  derives 
from  it  the  origin  of  its  life^  its  continuance, 
and  its  character.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that 
the  doctrine  and  practice  of  divorce,  inas- 
much as  they  dissolve  the  unity  and  indissolu- 
bility of  marriage,  divest  it  of  its  Christian 
character,  and  rob  it  of  its  honor,  its  purity, 
and  sanctities,  destroy  the  family  life,  poison 
the  well-springs  of  society,  and  sap  the  very 
foundations  of  the  civil  as  well  as  of  the 
religious  order.  The  records  of  the  divorce 
Courts  in  Europe  and  America  show  the  fear- 
ful, wide  spread  prevalence  of  this  moral 
plague  which  is  ravaging  society. 

Such,  is  an  imperfect  picture  of  the 
moral  condition  of  the  world  of  to-day. 
"We  may  ask  with  the  prophet,  *'  Quia 
medehitur  ejus?"  What  beneficent  power 
can  heal  a  world  so  deeply  wounded, 
so  desperately  diseased?  We  answer:  The 
Catholic  Church  and  she  alone,  by  vir- 
tue of  the  divine  power  that  is  in  her,  can 
heal  the  diseases  of  the  moral  world,  and 


I 


I 


80 


ROME  THOUGHTS. 


bind  up  its  wounds.  She  is  the  light  of  the 
world,  and  the  salt  of  the  earth.  Her  doc- 
trines are  the  teachings  of  the  truths  which 
Jesus  Christ  has  revealed  for  the  life  of  the 
world;  her  sacraments  are  the  channels 
through  which,  in  life-giving  streams,  the 
graces  and  merits  of  Christ  are  poured  abroad 
for  the  salvation  and  sanctification  of 
mankind.  She  redeemed  the  world  from  the 
errors  and  corruption  of  Paganism,  and  she 
has  still  the  same  inherent  divine  power  to 
effect  moral  reformations.  She  converted  the 
Boman  Empire  to  Christianity,  and  when 
that  Empire  fell  to  pieces  beneath  the  blows 
of  the  northern  barbarians,  she  went  abroad 
amid  the  ruins,  armed  with  a  creative  power; 
she  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  the  chaotic 
mass  that  lay  before  her,  and  up  sprang  her 
own  beautiful  creation  known  in  history  as 
Christendom.  There  are  no  moral  evils  for 
which  she  has  not  a  divine  remedy;  there  are 
no  afflictions  for  which  she  has  not  a  healing 
balm;  there  are  no  profound  sorrows  of  the 


i 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


81 


human  heart  for  which  she  lias  not  Christ- 
like consolations;  there  are  no  dark  problems 
of  life  for  which  she  has  not  the  solution,  no 
donbts  and  questionings  of  the  human  soul 
for  which  she  has  not  the  most  satisfying 
answers.  The  wonders  which,  by  tlie  power 
of  Christ,  who  is  her  indwelling  and  abiding 
life,  she  wrought  in  the  past  in  the  conversion 
and  sanctification  of  mankind,  she  can  still 
repeat,  if  she  be  allowed  the  freedom  to 
fulfill  her  divine  mission.  But  the  Church  of 
God  is  not  free  to  do  so  in  many  countries 
which  need  most  sorely  the  skill  and  medicine 
of  the  Heavenly  Physician.  '  ' 

She  is  thwarted  and  opposed  in  her  divine 
mission.  In  many  countries  which  she  re- 
deemed from  barbarism  and  paganism,  and 
which  had  once  shown  resplendent  with  the 
reflected  light  of  her  truths  and  the  beauty 
of  her  holiness,  she  is  now  bound  and  im- 
prisoned or  driven  into  exile.  She  is  stricken 
in  her  head  and  members.  The  Vicar  of 
Christ  is  dethroned  and  discrowned.     He  is 


I 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


i 


pifactically  a  prisoner  and  at  the  mercy  of  his 
enemies.  He  exercises  the  functions  of  liis 
august  office  only  by  the  toleration  of  a  hostile 
and  usurping  power;  and  the  Father  of  the 
Faithful,  to  avenge  whose  wrongs  a  million 
Bwords,  flashing  the  light  of  battle,  would,  in 
other  days,  have  leaped  from  their  scabbards, 
is  robbed  of  his  liberty  and  riglits,  and  is 
made  dep'^ndent  on  tlie  contributions  of  the 
faithful  for  the  support  of  his  dignity  and 
for  the  means  of  enabling  him  to  exercise  his 
divine  ministry.  Kings  and  governments 
co-operated  with,  or  regarded  with  shameful 
indifference,  the  monstrous  and  sacrilegious 
crime  by  which  the  Vicar  of  Christ  was  re- 
duced to  this  sad  and  deplorable  condition; 
but  in  co-operating  with,  or  in  conniving  at 
this  crime,  they  have,  Samson-like  in  their 
blind  folly,  torn  down  in  whelming  ruins  the 
pillars  that  support  the  temple  of  their 
authority  and  power.  In  the  dethronement 
of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  the  majesty  of  kings, 
the  security  of  thrones,  the  authority  of  gov- 


SOME  THOUGH'ic. 


emments,  tho  stability  of  states,  and  the  safety 
of  society  have  been  in  principle  dethroned 
and  overthrown,  and  that  principle  is  now, 
alas,  in  fatal  and  active  operation  in  the 
world,  and  kings  and  rulers  may  well  turn 
pale  at  the  decrees  of  destruction  which  it  is 
writing  with  the  hand  of  fate  on  their  palatial 
walls.  But  not  only  is  the  Church  stricken 
in  her  head;  she  is  also  stricken  in  her  mem- 
bers. In  several  countries  of  Europe  the 
religious  orders — the  body-guards  of  the 
Church — have  been  suppressed,  and  their 
members  dispersed  and  driven  into  exile; 
their  colleges  and  schools  have  been  closed; 
their  charitable  institutions  have  had  their 
doors  sealed  against  the  indigent  and  suffer- 
ing; their  blessed  ministrations  amongst  the 
poor,  the  ignorant,  and  the  afflicted  have 
been  compelled  to  cease,  "and  the  ways 
of  Sion  mourns;  her  gates  are  broken  down, 
her  priests  sigh,  her  virgins  are  in  afflic- 
tion, and  she  is  oppressed  with  bitterness^' 
(Lamen.  1.  iv.  vi). 


i. 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


i 


fi 


In  the  presence  of  these  appalling  evils  the 
Church  turns  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus, 
even  as  the  Apostles  did  when  the  storm 
raged  on  the  Sea  ot  Galilee,  and  the  angry 
waves  threatened  to  submerge  the  bark  of 
Peter,  and  she  says  to  It,  "Lord,  save  us,  we 
perish."  "  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  save  society 
from  the  deluge  of  evils  that  threaten  to 
destroy  it,  save  a  perishing  world  from  the 
ruin  toward  which  it  is  fast  hastening, 
enkindle  tlie  fire  of  Thy  divine  love  in  the 
cold  breasts  of  men.  Spare,  0  Lord,  spare 
Thy  people,  and  be  not  angry  with  us  for- 
ever; let  not  my  enemies  prevail  against  me, 
nor  the  son  of  ungodly  have  power  to  hurt 
me,  and  let  not  the  gates  of  hell  prevail 
against  me!" 

The  Sacred  Heart  is  a  secure  harbor  to  the 
Church  from  the  angry  storms  of  persecution 
that  now  so  fiercely  assail  her.  It  is  true  the 
Church  is  indestructible  and  can  neither 
decay  nor  perish,  for  she  is  indissolubly 
united  with  the  Holy  Ghost^  who  is  her  life. 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


85 


and  this  union  is  eternal.    I  will  send  you, 

said  Our  Lord,  another  paraclete,  the  spirit 

of  truth,  to  abide  with  you  forever  (St.  John, 

ch.  14.  V.  xvi).      And  again,  He  said  to  Hia 

Apostles,  behold,  I  am  with  you  all  days, 

oven  to  the  consummation  of  tiie  world  (St. 

Matt.  ch.  xxviii.  v.  xx).     "On  this  rock  I 

will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
will  not  prevail  against  her  "  (St.  Matt.  ch. 

xvi.  V.  xviii). 

The  Church  Catholic  is  that  immortal  king- 
dom seen  by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  his  vision  of 
the  night,  and  of  which  Daniel  prophesied: 
**  But  in  the  days  of  those  kingdoms  the  God 
of  Heaven  will  set  up  another  kingdom  that 
shall  never  be  destroyed,  and  His  kingdom 
shall  not  be  delivered  up  to  another  people, 
and  it  shall  break  in  pieces;  and  shall  consume 
all  these  kingdoms,  and,  itself  shall  stand 
forever"  (Dan.  ch.  ii.  v.  xliv). 

Nations  may  disappear,  dynasties  may  be 
overthrown,  the  proudest  thrones  may  be 
shattered  into  fragments,  but  the  Church  of 


80 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


the  living  Qod  shall  live  on  forever,  in  all  the 
freshness  and  vigor  of  youth.  Princes  may 
conspire  against  her  mission  and  her  very  life, 
but  their  hopes  shall  bo  scattered  like  tiie 
chaff  of  the  threshing  floor,  and  their  wicked 
machinations  brought  to  naught;  He  that  ia 
in  Heaven  said:  ''Psalmist  shall  laugh  at 
thorn,  and  the  Lord  shall  deride  them'' 
(Rom.  ch.  ii.  v.  iv).  "No  weapon,"  said  the 
prophet,  "that  is  formed  against  her  shall 
prosper,  and  every  tongue  that  resisted  her, 
in  judgment  she  shall  condemn ''  (Isa.  ch. 
xliv.  V.  xviii).  This  is  our  faith  and  consola- 
tion in  the  midst  of  an  unbelieving  and  hostile 
world.  But  in  the  presence  of  the  widespread 
indifferentism  and  impiety  that  now  prevail; 
in  the  presence  of  the  faint-heartedness,  tepid- 
ity and  worldliness,  that  exist  among  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Church;  in  presence  of  th^  bitter 
persecution  that  now  rages  against  the  spouse 
of  Christ  and  His  Vicar,  what  are  we  to  do? 
We  must  turn  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus, 
for  it  is  the  very  shrine  of  sanctiflcation  and 


BOME  THOUGHTS. 


horthcg.  If  a  yirtue  went  forth  from  the  hom 
of  His  garment  which  cured  a  painful  and 
chronic  disease,  if  the  handkerchiefs  and 
aprons  which  had  touched  the  body  of  St. 
Paul,  caused  "the  diseases"  to  depart  from 
the  sick,  as  we  read  was  the  case  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  if,  "the  shadow"  of  Peter 
passing  by  delivered  men  from  their  infirmi- 
ties, surely  the  virtue  ard  healing  influences 
that  flow  from  the  Heart  of  Jesus  are  suffi- 
cient to  cure  this  age,  that  is  sick  and  sore, 
and  diseased  to  the  very  heart.  Our  help 
and  our  hopo  then  lie  in  that  wounded  Heart, 
whence  salvation  first  streamed  down  with  its 
own  precious  blood  on  mankind.  It  is  our 
sheet-anchor  of  hope  in  these  unhappy 
times.  Wlien  St.  Gertrude  was  favored  with 
a  vision  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  and  asked 
him  why  he  had  not  revealed  all  the  beatings 
of  the  Heart  of  our  Lord,  since  he  had  felt 
them  all  himself  when  leaning  on  His  bosom, 
he  replied,  ''that  the  full  persuasive  sweets 
ness  of  the  beatings  of  that  Heart  was  reserved 


n 


88 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


'I 
►1 


to  be  revealed  at  a  later  time,  when  the  world 
should  have  grown  old  and  sunk  in  tepidity, 
that  it  might  he  thus  re-kindled  and  re- 
aivahened  to  the  love  of  God!" 

Oh,  we  must  then  turn  to  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  Jesus,  and  implore  it  to  cast  its  divine  lire 
of  love  on  the  frozen  earth  once  more,  so 
that  the  winter  of  our  desolation  may  pass 
away,  and  the  springtime  of  holy  hope  and 
fervor  may  come  back  again;  we  must  im- 
plore It  to  breathe  the  breath  of  life  into  the 
numberless  souls  that,  Lazarus-like,  lie  dead 
in  the  grave  of  sin,  that  they  may  arise  to  a 
life  of  grace  and  virtue;  we  must  beseech  It 
to  banish  from  the  children  of  the  Church 
all  spiritual  sloth  and  unconcern  in  God's 
holy  service,  and  in  the  all-important  work 
of  their  salvation,  to  inflame  their  hearts 
with  divine  love,  to  enliven  their  faith,  to 
strengthen  their  hope,  and  to  enlarge  their 
charity;  and  finally,  we  must  beseech  the 
Sacred  Heart  to  restore  peace  and  liberty  to 
the  persecuted  Church  and  the  Supreme  Pon- 


I'll 

!  i 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


89 


tiff.  When  St.  Peter  was  in  prison,  a  prayer 
was  made  without  ceasing  by  the  Church 
unto  God  for  him  (Acts  ch.  xii.  v.  y),  and  an 
angel  of  the  Lord  struck  the  chains  from  his 
hands  and  feet,  flung  open  the  prison  gates, 
and  set  him  free;  and  so,  if  wo  pray  ardently, 
confidently,  and  perseveringly  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  for  the  Church  and  our  Holy  Father, 
their  grievous  trials  in  God's  own  time  will 
cease.  A  Christian  philosopher  has  remarked, 
that  a  nation  that  prays  is  always  heard,  and 
so,  when  the  Church,  the  great  nation  of  re- 
generated humanity,  implores  God  to  hasten 
the  triumph  of  the  bride  of  Christ,  and  to 
scatter  her  enemies,  we  may  rest  assured  that 
that  prayer  will  not  remain  unheard.  For 
this  two-fold  end,  viz.,  first: — Of  enkindling 
in  our  hearts  the  fire  of  divine  charity,  so  that 
we  may  walk  in  justice  and  holiness  before 
God  all  Lhe  days  of  our  life;  and,  second: — 
Of  beseeching  God  to  hasten  the  triumph  of 
the  Church  over  her  enemies;  we  should 
consecrate  ourselves,  our  thoughts,  our  words. 


40 


SOME  THOUGHTS. 


E'  ) 


our  actions,  in  a  word,  our  whole  liyes  to  tlie 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  should  place  our* 
selves  under  the  aegis  of  Its  blessed  protection; 
and  we  should  also  earnestly  and  perseveringly 
endeavor  to  propagate  this  most  salutary  de- 
votion, and  in  this  way  help  to  8|)read  abroad 
the  good  odor  of  Christ  unto  salvation. 

The  apostleship  of  the  Sacred  Heart  can  he 
exercised  by  laymen  as  well  as  by  priests,  by 
men  and  women,  by  old  and  young,  by  people 
in  the  world  as  by  the  religious  in  the  shelter 
of  the  cloister;  it  is  a  blessed,  a  fruitful  and 
most  meritorious  apostleship — it  cannot  fail 
to  do  good,  it  cannot  fail  to  convert  sinners, 
to  console  the  afflicted,  to  heal  the  broken  in 
heart,  and  to  bind  up  their  wounds,  to  warm 
hearts  with  the  fire  of  divine  love,  and  to 
sanctify  immortal  souls;  it  cannot,  in  fine, 
fail  to  effect  a  moral  and  beautiful  transfigura- 
tion in  the  Church  and  Society,  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  salvation  of  man,  whilst  it  will 
bring  the  rewards  of  eternal  life  to  all  who  are 
'  engaged  in  it—"  They,"  says  the  prophet. 


SOME  THOUGHTS.  4i 

"who  teach  others  unto  justice,  shall  shine 
as  stars  for  all  eternity"  (Daniel,  xii.  iii). 


11 


iii' 


'V. 


PI 

^^^kI  I^  ' 

^^1 . 

REFLECTIONS 


ON  THE 


LIFE   AND    WORK 


!?* 


«"1 
1 


OF 


OUR  BLESSED  LORD. 


!f'1 

Mi 


M 


BBFLBCTIONS. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  LIFE 


AKD 


WORK  OF  OUR  BLESSED  LORD. 


i 


There  is  no  more  fruitful  source  of  instruc- 
tion and  edification  tlian  the  study  of  the  life 
and  actions  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  "  He  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the 
life;  they  that  follow  Him  walk  not  in  dark- 
ness." (St.  John  14,  vi).  "  He  is  the  light  of 
the  world  and  the  salt  of  the  earth. "  "  There 
is  no  salvation  in  any  other,  for  there  is  no 
other  name  under  heaven  given  to  men 
whereby  we  may  be  saved."  (Acts  iv.  xii). 
He  is  the  model  and  pattern  which  we  must 
imitate  in  our  lives  and  actions  if  we  would 
be  saved,  "  for,"  in  the  language  of  St  Paul, 
"whom  God  foreknew  He  also  predestinated 
to  be  made  conformable  to  the  image  of  His 


,1  ■ 


Mi 

1 


i 


■I  i 


M 


40 


REFLECTIONS. 


Son."    (Romans  viii.  xxix).     The  knowledge 

of  Him  is  eternal  life.     He  is  our  consolation, 

our  hope,  our  happiness  and  our  supreme 

good;  "for  what  have  we  in  Heaven,"  said 

the  Psalmist,  *'and  besides  Him  what  can  we 

desire  upon  earth;  He   is  the  God  of  our 

heart  and  the  God  that  is  our  portion  forever." 
Psalm  Ixxii. 

The  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  was  the  con- 
stant occupation  of  the  saints;  it  formed  their 
character  and  gave  them  the  supernatural 
courage  and  strength  by  which  they  overcame 
the  world,  the  devil  and  the  flesh.  St.  Paul  was 
so  preoccupied  with  it  that  he  professed  to 
know  nothing  else — "  for  I  judged  not  my- 
self to  know  anything  among  you  but  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified."  (1st  Corinthians, 
11,  ii).  And  again,  ''Furthermore,  I  count 
all  things  to  be  but  loss  for  the  excellent 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord."  (Phil- 
lipians,  3,  viii).  It  was  the  knowledge  of 
our  Blessed  Saviour  that  inflamed  the  heart 
of  the  great  apostle  with  divine  love  and 


!ii 


REFLECTIONS. 


<7 


« 


with  the  fire  of  apostolic  zeal.  He  burned  to 
impart  this  saving  knowledge  to  mankind, 
and  on  his  bended  knees  besought  the  eternal 
Father  that  Ho  would  communicate  it  to  a 
perishing  world,  in  order  to  save  and  to 
sanctify  it — "For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees 
to  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  all  paternity  in  heaven  and  earth  is 
named,  that  ho  would  grant  you  according  to 
the  riches  of  His  glory,  to  be  strengthened  by 
His  spirit  with  might  into  the  inward  man; 
that  Christ  may  dwell  by  faith  in  your  hearts; 
that  being  rooted  and  founded  in  charity,  you 
may  be  able  to  comprehend,  with  all  the 
saints,  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and 
height,  and  depth;  to  know  also  the  charity 
of  Christ,  which  surpasseth  all  knowledge, 
that  you  may  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of 
God,"  (Ephcsians  3,  xiv-xix). 

The  more  we  study  the  character  of  our 
Saviour,  the  more  brightly  its  divine  beauty 
will  shine  out  upon  us,  the  more  vividly  the 
grand  characteristics  that  stamped  his  mis- 


::1:1' 


1 ' 


U  REFLECTIONS. 

Bion  as  divine  will  present  themselves  to 
view.  And  it  is  well  to  study  attentively  this 
heavenly  picture,  it  is  profitable  to  look  now 
on  the  face  of  our  Christ,  and,  Veronica-like, 
to  catch  the  divine  image  and  stamp  it  on 
our  hearts.  We  live  at  a  time  when  a  heart- 
less and  a  blasphemous  philosophy  is  attempt- 
ing to  sap  the  foundations  of  Christian  faith, 
and  to  rob  the  world  of  the  blessings  and 
consolations  of  the  Christian  religion.  Hence, 
it  is  essential,  in  order  to  Iieal  the  bites  of 
this  fiery  serpent  of  an  anti-christian  philoso- 
phy and  an  anti-christian  spirit,  or  to  save 
ourselves  from  their  destructive  influences, 
to  look  upon  Him  who  was  foreshadowed  by 
the  brazen  serpent  in  the  desert,  even  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  who  alone 
can  save  us  from  the  spiritual  dangers  that 
surround  us,  and  heal  the  wounds  of  the 
soul.  But  who  can  adequately  describe  the 
life  and  character  of  our  Blessed  Lord?  or 
what  pen  can  do  them  justice?  It  is  said 
that  a  great  painter  once  undertook  to  paint 


II 


REFLECTIONS. 


40 


the  likeness  of  our  Saviour.  He  had  made 
a  long  and  patient  and  prayerful  study  of 
the  subject,  his  heart  and  his  mind  were  full 
of  it,  his  soul  was  aglow  with  the  fire  of  a 
holy  inspiration  and  with  the  light  of  artistic 
genius,  he  seized  at  last  his  brush,  with  the 
purpose  of  transferring  to  canvas  the  divine 
lineaments  of  our  Saviour's  countenance; 
but,  alas,  his  heart  failed  him,  his  hand 
trembled,  and,  casting  down  the  brush  in 
despair,  he  exclaimed  that  it  was  indeed  im- 
possible for  mortal  man  to  express  on  canvas 
the  divine  beauty,  majesty,  and  sweetness  of 
the  face  of  Jesus.  A  kindred  feeling  may 
well  lay  hold  of  the  writer  wlio  undertakes  to 
describe  the  life  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  and 
the  characteristics  that  marked  his  mission 
on  earth.  However,  as  men,  in  order  to  see 
and  admire  the  beauty  and  brilliancy  of  a 
diamond,  will  turn  it  now  on  one  side,  now 
on  another,  so  by  the  aid  of  study  and  pious 
meditation,  we  may  catch  some  glimpses  of 
the  heavenly  perfection  of  our  Lord's  charac- 


ill 

''I 


'il:i| 


:-■  -I 

i' 


I)    ' 


i! 


I 


50 


REFLECTIONS. 


tcr,  and  may  bo  ablo  to  convey  somo  idea  of 
tlie  characteristics  of  His  mission  amongst 
mankind. 

The  constraining  power  that  brought  our 
Saviour  down  from  licavcn  was  His  infinite 
lovo  for  man.  Ho  had  created  man  through 
love.  He  came  to  redeem  liim  through  love. 
When  man  fell  by  the  original  transgression 
he  lost  the  justice  and  innocence  in  which  ho 
had  been  constituted,  he  lost  tlie  sonship  of 
God  and  the  heirshij)  of  heaven;  ho  became 
an  outcast  from  the  face  of  his  God,  and  tho 
gates  of  heaven  were  closed  against  liim;  he 
became  a  ruin  and  a  wreck,  like  some  beauti- 
ful temple  overthrown  by  a  sudden  eartli- 
quake;  liis  mind  was  darkened,  his  heart 
corrupted,  his  inclinations  tended  to  evil  as 
streams  tend  to  tlie  ocean,  and  lie  was  con- 
demned to  the  death,  not  only  of  the  body, 
but  to  the  everlasting  death  of  the  soul. 
Who  can  heal  this  wounded,  blighted  crea- 
ture— Quis  medelitiir  ejus?  Who  can  undo 
tliese  appalling  evils?      What  mighty  and 


i\ 


REFLECTIONS. 


m 


beneficent  power  can  lift  up  fallen  man  and 
restore  him  to  his  lost  privileges?  Who  can 
atone  to  the  justice  of  God  for  the  sins  of 
men,  and  reconcile  the  guilty  creature  to  the 
ofFoiidcd  Creator?  Whiit  mighty  arm  can 
unbolt  the  gates  of  heaven,  and  open  them 
once  more  for  man's  admission  into  eternal 
joys?  We  find  the  answer  to  these  questions 
ill  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation.  Our 
Blessed  Saviour  came  down  from  heaven  and 
became  man  in  order  to  redeem  and  save  us. 
"lie  emptied  Himself,"  says  St.  Paul,  "and 
took  upon  Himself  the  form  of  a  servant;" 
He  stooped  into  the  abyss  of  our  nothingness 
in  order  to  lift  us  up,  and  to  make  us  once 
more  the  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  The  fact  of  the  Incar- 
nation  is  a  miracle  of  love  far  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  comprehension.  The  infinite 
condescension  of  God,  implied  in  the  Incar- 
nation— the  great  and  eternal  God,  infinitely 
perfect  in  all  his  attributes,  all-powerful,  all- 
holy,  all-wise,  and  all-just,  stooping  into  the 


•1  : 

I,      I 


1    >. 


|: 


I 


63 


REFLECTIONS. 


depths  of  our  nothingness  to  save  us;  this  is 
an  abyss  of  mercy  which  the  plummet-line  of 
human  reason  can  never  fathom.  Now  we 
find  that  His  whole  life  and  conduct  on  earth 
were  but  the  expression  and  manifestation  of 
this  infinite  love  and  mercy  as  revealed  to  us 
in  the  fact  of  the  Incarnation. 

When  St.  John  was  in  prison  for  having 
denounced  the  public  sins  of  Herod,  he  heard 
of  the  works  of  our  Saviour,  who  had  just 
entered  on  His  public  life,  and  sending  his 
disciples  to  Jesus,  he  said  to  Him:  "Art 
thou  He  that  was  to  come,  or  look  we  for 
another?"  And  Jesus,  making  answer,  said 
to  them:  "Go  and  tell  John  what  you  have 
seen  and  heard.  The  blind  see,  the  lame 
walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear, 
the  dead  rise  again,  and  the  poor  have  the 
gospel  preached  unto  them."  (Matt.  11,  li-v). 

Our  Blessed  Saviour  does  not  appeal  in 
proof  of  His  Messiahship  to  stupendous  mira- 
cles that  startle  and  terrify.  He  could  have 
shown  in  a  thousand  ways  the  power  that  be- 


REFLECTIONS. 


53 


longed  to  Him  in  heavon  and  on  earth;  His 
voice  could  have  controlled  all  the  elements, 
arrested  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  suspended  all  the  laws  of  nature.  He 
could  in  this  way  have  amply  proved  His 
divinity,  and  that  He  was  indeed  the  Mes- 
siah til  at  was  to  come  to  save  a  lost  world. 
But  He  appeals  rather  to  His  works  of  tender 
mercy  and  compassion;  He  appeals  to  His 
beneficent  and  gracious  manifestation  of  Al- 
mighty power  in  healing  the  ills  that  afflict 
humanity,  in  relieving  the  wretched  of  the 
crushing  burden  of  their  sorrows,  in  comfort- 
ing the  afflicted,  in  healing  the  broken  of 
heart,  and  binding  up  their  wounds.  (Psalm 
147,  iii.)  "  Go  tell  John  what  you  have  heard 
and  seen:  the  blind  see,  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead 
riSe  again,  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them." 

His  whole  life  was  marked  by  the  most 
profound  and  active  sympathy  for  the  poor, 
the  sick,  the  afflicted,  the  sorrow-stricken. 


H 


Ill 


f 


, 


M 


REFLECTIONS. 


and  the  care-worn  and  sin-burdened  men. 
His  whole  Sacred  Heart  went  out  to  them  in 
tender  pity,  and  in  practical  and  efficacious 
benevolence.  For  the  poor  He  had  especial 
affection  and  tenderness.  When  our  Saviour 
came  on  earth.  He  found  the  poor  crushed, 
ostracised,  despised,  and  abandoned.  The 
civilization  of  the  Pagan  world  was  then  at 
its  height;  but  it  was  a  cold,  heartless  civili- 
zation; it  was  like  a  marble  statue  by  Phidias, 
exquisitely  beautiful  and  radiant  with  the 
halo  of  artistic  genius,  but  yet  hard,  cold, 
nnfeeling  and  pitiless.  All  its  honor  and 
favors  were  for  the  rich,  the  powerful,  the 
learned  and  the  brave.  Honors  were  lavished 
on  the  poet,  the  orator,  the  sculptor,  the  suc- 
cessful statesman  and  the  victorious  general; 
but  the  poor,  as  we  have  said,  were  utterly 
despised  and  abandoned;  they  stood  outside 
the  sphere  of  charity  and  even  of  liberty. 
Our  Blessed  Lord,  who  was  the  way,  the 
truth  and  the  life,  came  to  destroy  error,  to 
correct  false  notions,  to  teach  men  the  true 


REFLECTIONS. 


65 


value  oi  things  and  the  true  relationship 
of  man  to  man,  and  to  establish  society  on 
the  basis  of  truth,  justice  and  charity.  He 
sympathized  with  tlie  poor,  and  by  practicing 
and  embracing  poverty  Himself,  He  made  it 
a  sacred  thing,  and  lifted  it  up  in  the  estima- 
tion of  mankind.  When  He  condescended  to 
come  on  earth  for  our  salvation,  He  might 
have  come  clothed  with  great  power  and 
majesty  and  surrounded  by  His  angels;  Ho 
might  have  revealed  His  law  amid  the  awful 
scenes  that  witnessed  the  revelation  and  pro- 
mulgation of  the  decalogue;  He  might  have 
spoken  His  heavenly  doctrines  in  a  voice  of 
thunder,  and  bade  the  trembling  nations  to 
listen  and  obey.  But  far  different  was  the  plan 
adopted  by  our  Saviour.  He  is  born  in  the  pov- 
erty of  astable,  His  cradle  is  a  manger,  His  royal 
robes  coarse  swaddling  clothes.  His  retinue  an 
ox  and  an  ass,  his  luxuries  darkness  and  cold. 
He  grows  up  in  poverty  and  associates  with 
the  poor;  He  said  that  whilst  the  foxes  had 
their  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  their 


m 


.    !l 


ii 


I 


'ii 


i 
I 
i 


ii 


66 


REFLECTIONS. 


nests,  the  Son  of  Man  had  not  whereon  to 
lay  His  head.  He  mnde  poverty  one  of  the 
beatitudes:  "blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit, 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven/'  He 
thus  gave  poverty  a  character  of  sacredness, 
exalted  it  in  human  estimation,  made  it  an 
occasion  of  merit  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and 
reconciled  the  poor  lo  their  hard  lot  by  lift- 
ing up  their  thoughts  toward  God's  eternal 
kingdom,  which  is  the  heritage  of  the  poor, 
and  in  which  they  will  be  eternally  rich. 
And  lest,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  His  blessed 
example  and  teaching  on  this  point  might  be 
forgotten  and  abandoned,  and  the  poor  be 
once  again  treated  with  contempt,  neglect 
and  cruelty,  our  Lord  identifies  Himself  with 
the  poor,  makes  their  cause  His  own,  and 
declares  that  on  the  great  accounting  day 
our  eternal  lot  will  be  decided  by  the  manner 
m  which  we  shall  have  followed  His  example, 
and  obeyed  and  practiced  His  teachings  m 
relation  to  the  poor.  "I  was  hungry,  and 
ye  gave  Me  to  eat;  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  Me 


4  >^  ■ 


REFLECTIONS. 


sr 


to  drink."  And  so,  in  every  Christian  age. 
His  true  followers  have  esteemed  poverty, 
have  deemed  it  a  holy  thing,  and  have  made 
it  a  duty  and  a  happiness  to  be  merciful  and 
compassionate  toward  the  poor,  rendering 
their  lot  bearable  and  contributing  toward 
their  happiness.  0!  who  can  estimate  the 
countless  blessings  bestowed  on  the  poor, 
the  lowly  and  the  weak  by  this  example 
and  teaching  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  The 
hungry  have  been  fed,  the  naked  clothed, 
the  lonely  ard  abandoned  visited,  the  light 
of  blessed  hope  has  been  made  to  shine 
in  the  darkness  of  the  dungeon,  the  prison 
doors  have  opened  to  the  captive,  and  the 
reign  of  blessed  charity,  with  all  its  mer- 
cies and  commiserations,  has  been  inaugurated 
and  perpetuated  upon  earth,  making  the 
"land  that  was  desolate  and  impassable  be 
glad,  and  the  wilderness  rejoice  and  flourish 
like  a  lily,  making  it  bud  forth  and  blossom, 
and  rejoice  with  joy  and  praise."  (Isaias 
136). 


i 


J 


^' 


58 


REFLECTIONS. 


But  our  Blessed  Lord  not  only  practiced 
poverty  and  rendered  it  sacred,  but  he  also 
embraced  labor  and  toil  as  the  occupation  of 
His  private  life,  and  gave  them  a  dignity  and 
a  merit  which  they  had  never  before  enjoyed. 
At  the  time  of  the  advent  of  our  Saviour, 
labor  had  fallen  into  utter  contempt,  was 
a  badge  of  degradation  and  considered  as 
only  fit  for  slaves.  Working  men  were  de- 
prived of  the  rights  of  manhood,  were  robbed 
of  their  liberties  and  civil  rights  and  were 
reduced  to  the  position  of  slaves.  Both  in 
Greek  and  Koman  civilization  work  had  been 
made  servile,  and  working  men  slaves.  At 
the  time  of  Augustus  Caesar,  there  were  up- 
ward of  sixty  millions  of  slaves  in  the  vast 
empire  over  which  he  ruled.  And  those 
slaves  were  not  men  on  whose  brows  an 
Indian  or  an  African  sun  had  burnt  the 
brand  of  slavery;  they  were  in  blood  and  race 
the  equals  of  their  masters.  In  Roman  law, 
a  slave  was  not  a  person,  but  a  thing;  he  had, 
of  course,  no  civil  or  political  rights,  he  had 


« 


V.Vt!, 


.1  :,  , 


REFLECTIONS. 


59 


no  power  to  receive  a  legacy,  no  power  of 
civil  action,  and  was  entirely  beyond  the  pale 
and  protection  of  law;  he  had  not  even  relig- 
ious duties  or  hopes.  He  was  in  everything 
absohitely  subject  to  his  master's  will,  who 
had  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  hira. 
Such  is  the  frightful  condition  to  which  mil- 
lions of  working  men  were  reduced  in  ancient 
civilization,  when  they  were  described  by 
Seneca  as  having  "  fettered  feet,  bound  hands, 
and  branded  faces." 

Our  divine  Saviour  became  a  working  man, 
was  a  carpenter  and  the  reputed  son  of  a 
carpenter,  and  for  years  labored  and  toiled 
with  St.  Joseph  for  His  daily  bread.  He 
thus  made  labor  sacred.  He  exalted  it  in 
human  estimation,  and  gave  it  a  dignity 
in  the  eyes  of  men  and  a  power  of  merit  in 
the  eyes  of  God.  In  the  Christian  system, 
labor  having  become  ennobled  by  the  action 
and  example  of  Christ,  the  working  man  rose 
in  the  scale  of  human  estimation,  he  ceased 
to  be  regarded  a  thing,  and  was  looked  upon 


u 

y 


"V! 


r 


60 


REFLECTIONS. 


' 


as  a  man  possessing  human  rights  and  liber- 
ties and  duties.  Men,  whether  free  or  bond, 
were  taught  the  doctrines  of  equality  before 
God,  who  was  their  common  father;  they 
were  taught  the  doctrine  of  human  and 
Christian  brotherhood,  that  in  the  language 
of  St.  Paul,  "  in  one  spirit  they  were  all  bap- 
tized into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Gen- 
tiles, whether  bond  or  free.'*  (1  Corinthians.- 
12,  xiii).  "  That  they  were  all  children  of 
God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  there  was 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  neither  bond  nor 
free,  but  that  they  were  all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus."  (Galatians,  3,  xxvii-xxviii).  These 
blessed  sounds  broke  with  the  power  and 
magic  of  delightful  music  on  the  ears  of  the 
fettered  slaves.  Millions  of  human  beings, 
bowed  down  under  the  intolerable  burdens 
and  unspeakable  sorrows  of  slavery,  lifted  up 
their  heads,  raised  their  eyes  toward  heaven, 
and  began  to  hope.  Gradually,  under  the 
blessed  and  fruitful  iLfluence  of  the  example 
and  teachings  of  our  Saviour,   the   fetters 


- 


REFLECTIONS. 


61 


began  to  fall  from  the  festering  limbs  of  the 
slaves,  men  learned  their  rights  and  dignity 
as  well  as  their  responsibilities,  labor  was 
ennobled  and  sanctified,  and  the  curse  of 
slavery  has  disappeared  from  all  Christian 
lands,  never  to  return.  Who  can  estimate 
the  value  of  this  mighty  result,  this  great 
moral  revolution!  "What  blessings  has  it 
not  conferred  upon  mankind!  What  fount- 
ains of  tears  has  it  not  dried  up!  What 
broken  hearts  has  it  not  healed!  What  un- 
speakable sorrows  has  it  not  banished!  What 
burdens  of  grief  has  it  not  lifted  up  from 
the  heart  and  soul  of  man!  With  what  hope, 
whac  joy,  what  sunshine  of  liberty  and  glad- 
ness has  it  not  flooded  the  world,  transform- 
ing it  from  a  pen  of  slaves  into  a  home 
of  Christian  freemen. 

Another  characteristic  of  our  Lord's  earthly 
mission  was  His  care  and  tenderness  for  the 
sick.  His  delight  was  to  bring  hope  to  the  bed 
of  the  sick,  to  cheer  their  drooping  spirits, 
to  relievo  their  sufferings  and  heal  their  dis« 


i 


6S 


REFLECTIONS. 


eases.  He  cleansed  the  lepers  of  their  most 
loathsome  disease,  and  by  His  healing  touch 
restored  their  putrid  flesh  to  its  original  fresh- 
ness and  purity.  By  His  merciful  power  the 
blind  saw,  the  lame  walked  and  the  deaf 
heard.  Fever,  the  bloody  flux,  palsy  and  the 
dropsy,  every  manner  of  disease  that  racks  the 
poor  body  with  pain,  fills  the  mind  with  sad 
forebodings  of  death,  and  finally  dries  up  the 
very  fountains  of  life,  all  fied  at  His  omnipo- 
tent command,  or  disappeared  at  His  healing 
touch.  They  saw  in  Him  the  author  of  all 
life,  and  vanished  in  confusion  from  His  Holy 
presence.  "And  all  that  were  sick,  he 
healed,"  said  St.  Matthew  (8,  xvi-xvii,)  "that 
it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by 
Isaias  the  prophet,  saying:  '  He  took  our  in- 
firmities and  bore  our  diseases.* "  How  beauti- 
ful is  this  characteristic  of  our  Redeemer, 
and  how  fruitful  it  has  been  in  lasting  bene- 
fits  for  the  sick  and  the  infirm  in  all  the 
Christian  ages!  Those  who  have  been  ill 
know  how  dependent  the  sick  are  on  the 


, 


REFLECTIONS. 


68 


kindly  offices  of  others,  how  they  crave  for 
sympathy  and  yearn  for  oue  word  of  liope. 
The  example  of  our  Lord  and  its  blessed  in- 
fluences, have  soothed  the  agonies  of  the  sick 
bed  and  lavished  sweetest  sympathies  on  the 
sufferers,  and  have  shed  upon  them  the 
blessed  sunshine  of  hope.     Under  the  potent 

creative  power  of  His  divine  example,  men 
and  women  have,  in  every  Christian  age,  de- 
voted themselves  exclusively  to  the  care  of 
the  sick,  for  Christ's  dear  sake,  and  hospitals 
have  sprung  up  in  every  center  of  population, 
like  blessed  Probaticas,  for  the  care  and  com- 
fort of  the  sick  and  suffering. 

Then  what  shall  we  say  of  His  profound 
sympathy  for  the  sorrow-stricken  and  af- 
flicted? He  knew  that  sorrow  and  suffering 
would  be  the  portion  of  the  great  masses  of 
mankind;  that  in  this  valley  of  tears  man 
would  have  to  drink  the  chalice  of  sufferings 
to  the  bitter  dregs.  He,  therefore,  became  a 
man  of  sorrows  Himself,  in  order  to  sanctify 
sorrow,  and  to  make  it  holy  and  even  exr 


I 


REFLECTIONS. 


piatory  of  sin  and  its  consoquonccs,  and  in 
order,  also,  by  tlie  magic  power  of  His  ex- 
ample, to  teach  the  sorrow-stricken,  in  every 
age,  how  to  carry  the  burden  of  their  grief, 
and  how  to  do  so  in  a  manner  submissive  to 
the  will  of  God,  and  pleasing  to  Him.  **  Wo 
have  seen  Him,"  said  the  Prophet,  "and  there 
was  no  comeliness  that  we  should  be  de- 
sirous of  him;  despised  and  the  most  abject 
of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
•with  infirmity,  and  His  look  was,  as  it  were, 
hidden  and  despised,  whereupon  we  esteemed 
Him  not.  Surely  He  hath  borne  our  infirmi- 
ties and  carried  our  sorrows ;  and  we  have 
thought  him  as  a  leper,  and  as  one  struck  by 
God  and  afflicted;  but  ho  was  wounded  for  our 
iniquities  and  bruised  for  our  sins ;  the  chas- 
tisement of  our  peace  was  upon  Him,  and  by 
His  bruises  we  are  healed,"  (Isuias  53). 
And,  through  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  Ho 
exclaims  :  "  0!  all  you  who  pass  by  the  way, 
come  and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  to  My 
sorrow."  (Lamentations  1,  xii.)  He  drank  the 


:,iH 


U< ' 


I  .-1 


REFLECTIONS. 


65 


cnp  of  sniloring  and  sorrow  to  the  bitter 
dregs,  not  only  to  expiate  our  sins,  but  also 
to  sanctify  our  sorrows  and  to  teach  us  how 
to  bear  them. 

Perhaps  amid  all  the  grand  and  beautiful 
characteristics  of  our  Saviour's  life,  there  is 
none  more  endearing  to  the  human  heart  than 
His  blessed  compassion  for  the  afflicted,  the 
mourners  and  weepers.  The  instances  of 
this  trait  in  our  Saviour's  character,  related  in 
the  gospel,  speak  to  the  heart  with  a  sympa- 
thetic power  which  human  language  is  im- 
potent to  command.  We  shall  only  refer  to 
two  of  them.  The  first  to  which  we  wish 
to  call  attention  is  the  case  of  the  widow 
of  Naim.  As  our  Redeemer,  accompanied 
by  his  disciples,  approached,  on  one  occasion, 
this  little  town,  he  met  the  funeral  of  the 
only  son  of  a  widow,  as  it  proceeded  slowly 
and  mournfully  toward  the  cemetery.  There 
were  in  that  funeral  procession  the  usual  cir- 
cumstances that  mark  such  an  occasion — the 
kind-hearted    and    sympathetic  neighbors, 


n 


■'  a 


■k 


11 


M 


66 


REFLECTIONS. 


i         :i 


■  I    I* 


tho  weeping  relatives,  the  corpse  stiff  and 
cold  in  death,  and  there  was  the  broken-heart- 
ed and  widowed  mother  following  the  coflBn 
in  which  her  earthly  joy  and  hope  were  en- 
closed. The  sad  spectacle  was  too  much  for 
the  heart  of  Jesus;  he  was  moved  to  deepest 
pity  for  this  weeping,  crushed  and  broken- 
hearted woman,  and  approaching  her.  He 
said:  "  0!  woman,  weep  not."  He  then  went 
to  the  bier  and  in  a  voice  of  command  he  said: 
"Young  man,  I  say  to  thee,  arise."  Death 
•heard  the  voice  of  the  author  of  life  and  obey- 
ed; the  young  man  awoke  into  life  and 
went  home  with  his  mother,  to  be  the  comfort 
and  the  staff  of  her  old  age. 

The  second  instance  of  our  Saviour's  touch- 
ing sympathy  for  the  bereaved  and  the  sor- 
rowing which  we  shall  adduce,  is  that  which 
relates  to  the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the  tomb. 
A  beloved  brother,  the  guardian,  prop  and 
pride  of  two  orphan  sisters,  is  torn  from  tho 
family  circle  by  the  cruel  hand  of  death;  he 
is  taken  away  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  in  the 


REFLECTIONS. 


♦57 


midst  of  his  usefulness,  and  at  a  time  when  his 
presence  seemed  essential  to  the  well-being  and 
comfort  of  his  sisters,  and  he  is  now  four  days 
dead  and  buried  away  in  the  silent  tomb.  Ilia 
place  is  vacant  at  the  family  hearth,  there  is 
a  sad  void  in  the  homestead  that  cannot  be 
filled  up,  there  is  a  beloved  presence  wanting; 
and  grief  bitter  and  overpowing,  and  sorrow 
speechless  and  inexpressible,  because  too  great 
for  utterance  have  filled  the  souls  of  the  be- 
reaved and  broken-hearted  sisters.  Our  Lord 
came  to  console  them  in  their  heart-anguish 
and  agony,  and  the  sisters  rushed  out  to  meet 
Him,  and  in  an  outburst  of  passionate  grief, 
and  in  those  piteous  accents  that  smite  the 
heart,  exclaimed:  "  0  Lord,  if  thou  hadst 
been  here  our  brother  would  not  have  died. 
But  now  we  know  that  whatever  thou  shalt 
ask  of  God,  he  will  give  it  to  Thee.^*  To 
their  earnest  pleading,  to  supplications,  aided 
by  the  silent  but  irresistible  eloquence  of  tears 
our  Lord  replied  in  words  of  tenderest  sym- 
pathy and  hopefulness  that  can  never  be  for- 


^'li 


68 


REFLECTIONS. 


gotten,  and  that  have  shone  ever  since  like  a 
rainbow  of  promise  over  Christian  tombs: 
"  Your  brother  shall  rise  again.  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life;  every  one  that  be- 
lie veth  in  Me  though  he  be  dead,  shall  live, 
and  everyone  that  liveth  and  believethin  Me 
shall  not  taste  death  forever."  And  Jesus, 
seeing  the  grief  of  the  disconsolate  sisters, 
groaned  in  spirit  and  wept,  and  going  to  the 
tomb  wherein  Lazarus  was  laid,  he  cried 
with  a  loud  voice:  "Lazarus,  come  forth." 
And  presently,  he  that  had  been  dead,  came 
forth  from  the  tomb  a  living  man,  and 
went  home  with  his  sisters."  John  11.  How 
touchingly  these  instances  of  our  Saviour's 
tender  compassion  speak  to  the  bereaved  and 
stricken  heart!  What  rays  of  blessed  hope 
have  they  not  ministered  to  those  who  have 
been  widowed  or  orphaned  by  death!  But 
whilst  they  are  calculated  to  console  all  weep- 
ers, they  have  a  special  significance  for  those 
whom  death  has  bereaved  of  their  dear  ones. 
Henceforward,  if  Christians  mourn  for  the  de- 


REFLECTIONS.  69 

parted  ones,  they  mourn  not  without  hope. 
They  know  that  Jesus  is  "  the  resurrection 
and  the  life,"  and  that  those  who  die  in  His 
holy  church,  and  at  friendship  with  Him,  will 
one  day  rise  again  to  live  forever  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Death,  therefore,  has  not 
absolute  dominion  over  their  departed  friends. 
These  may  sleep  away  for  ages  in  their  for- 
gotten graves,  but  in  the  ppring-time  of  the 
resurrection  they  will  rise  again  in  honor, 
in  power  and  glory,  to  live  with  Christ  in 
His  eternal  kingdom.  This  hope  is  laid  up 
in  the  bosom  of  Christian  mourners,  and  in 
every  age  and  clime,  has  served  to  reconcile 
them  to  the  death  of  their  nearest  and  most 
beloved.  It  is  thus  that  our  blessed  Lord  has 
sublimated  and  sanctified  sorrow  and  suffer- 
ing. He  became  Himself  a  man  of  sorrows; 
He  bore  those  sorrows  without  plaint  or  mur- 
mur, for  ^'as  a  sheep  before  the  shearers,  so 
opened  He  not  His  mouth."  In  His  agony  in 
the  garden,  when  His  soul  was  sorrowful  even 
unto    death.    He    besought    His    Heavenly 


ir- 


u 


■: 


Sif. 


; 


70 


REFLECTIONS. 


Father  that  the  chalice  might  pass  away  from 
Him,  but  He  added:  "  nevertheless,  let  not 
My  will,  but  Thine,  be  done."  He  has  thus 
taught  us,  by  His  holy  example,  how  to  bear 
with  patience  and  resignation  the  trials  of 
life,  and,  by  uniting  them  to  His  suffer- 
ings, how  to  make  them  expiatory  and  meri- 
torious in  the  sight  of  His  eternal  Father. 
Thus,  sorrow  and  suffering  in  the  Christian 
system  become  a  source  of  merit  and  of 
sanctification,  and,  though  our  hearts  may 
break  with  uncontrollable  grief,  we  may  offer 
them  to  God,  all  wounded  and  bleeding 
though  they  bo,  and  when  thus  offered,  in 
union  with  the  sorrows  and  the  agonized 
heart  of  Jesus,  they  become  most  acceptable 
offerings  in  the  sight  of  Heaven.  But  the 
example  of  our  Lord  on  this  point  has  not  only 
instructed  us  how  to  bear  our  own  trials  and 
crosses  with  patience,  but  it  has  also  tauglit 
us  to  be  kind  and  compassionate  totliosewho 

are  in  sorrow  and  affliction.  He  has  given  us 
an  example  that,  as  He  has  done,  so  also  we 


REFLECTIONS. 


71 


might  do.  And  this  blessed  and  merciful 
example  has  been  followed  during  the  whole 
life  of  His  holy  church.  Wherever  sorrows 
were  to  be  comforted,  wherever  tears  were  to 
be  dried,  wherever  pain  was  to  be  assuaged, 
wherever  wounded  and  broken  hearts  were 
to  be  healed  and  bound  up,  there,  men  and 
women,  consecrated  to  Christ  and  animated 
by  his  spirit  and  example,  were  to  be  found 
as  ministering  angels,  happy  to  suffer  and  to 
die  if  only  they  could  bring  comfort  and  con- 
solation to  the  suffering  and  sorrowing  mem- 
bers of  the  crucified  Redeemer.  God  alone 
can  tell  how  much  this  sad  world  owes,  in  tliis 
respect,  to  the  teachings  and  example  of  its 
Saviour. 

There  is  another  class  for  which  our  Lord 
entertained  a  special  compassion  and  mercy, 
namely,  sinners.  In  a  spiritual  sense  they 
are  blind  and  deaf,  and  lame,  and  sick  and 
leprous.  In  the  language  of  inspiration,  they 
may  consider  themselves  rich  and  made 
wealthy,  and  as  having  need  of  nothing;  "  but 


h 


n 


REFLECTIONS. 


they  are  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor, 
and  blind,  and  naked."  (Apocalypse  3,  xvii). 
Tiioy  are  poor,  for  they  have  lost  tlieir  eternal 
inheritance.  They  are  slaves,  for  they  have 
lost  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  and 
are  bound  by  the  servitude  of  Satan.  "Amen, 
I  say  unto  you,"  said  Christ,  *'  that  whosoever 
committeth  sin  is  the  slave  of  sin."  (John  8, 
xxxiv).  They  are  spiritually  dead,  for  they  have 
lost  the  life  of  their  souls.  01  more  wretched 
and  more  pitiable  far  than  the  blind,  the 
lame  and  the  deaf,  are  sinners  who  have  lost 
the  treasures  of  God's  friendship,  have  for- 
feited tlieir  rights  to  Heaven,  and  have 
wrecked  their  innocence  and  destroyed  the 
verv  life  of  their  souls.  Our  Lord  came 
primarily  for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  to  seek 
and  save  that  which  was  lost.  The  primary 
object  of  His  coming  was  not  to  heal  the  dis- 
eases and  ailments  of  the  bodv,  but  to  heal  the 
diseases  and  wounds  of  the  soul ;  was  not  to 
restore  the  life  of  the  body,  but  to  restore  the 
lost  life  of  the  soul!    If,  then,  the  Saviour 


i  I 
\  i 


\./ 


REFLECTIONS. 


7t 


wrought  miracles  for  tlie  healing  of  bodily 
diseases  and  the  restoration  of  the  dead  to 
life,  0!  what  miracles  of  mercy  will  He  not 
work  for  the  salvation  and  life  of  the  im- 
perishable soul,  for  the  happiness,  the  endless 
bliss  of  this  living  image  of  God,  this  immortal 
being,  the  salvation  of  which  is  a  greater  work 
and  a  greater  good  than  the  creation  of  the  ma- 
terial world,  than  the  glories  of  the  stars  and 
all  the  beauties  of  the  universe.  Hence  we 
find  that  his  whole  life  was  one  divine  effort 
for  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  the  sin- 
ner.  This  was  so  markedly  the  case  that  the 
Pharisees  reproached  Him  for  it  and  stigma- 
tized him  as  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sin- 
ners. Whereupon  our  Lord  replied:  "Those 
that  are  well  have  not  need  of  a  ph^dician, 
but  those  that  are  sick;  going,  therefore, 
learn  what  this  meaneth.  I  wish  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice,  for  I  am  come  to  call,  not  the 
just,  but  sinners  to  repentance."  (Luke 
15,  xii-xiii). 
He  likens  Himself  to  the  good  shepherd 


\./ 


.1  -\ 


74 


REFLECTIONS. 


S 


who  leaveth  ninety-nine  sheep  in  the  desert 
and  goes  in  search  of  the  one  that  is  lost^  and 
declares  "that  there  is  joy  in  Heaven  before 
the  angels  of  God  upon  one  sinner  that  doth 
penance  more  than  ninety-nine  just  who  need 
not  penance."  (Luke  15,  vii).  He  is  the 
Father  of  the  prodigal.  A  certain  man,  says 
our  Lord,  had  two  sons,  and  one  was  a  prodi- 
gal, and  the  prodigal,  taking  his  share  of  the 
father's  substance,  went  into  a  foreign  coun- 
try, and  there  wasted  his  fortune  on  riotous 
living.  That  country  was  scourged  by  a  wast- 
ing famine  and  the  prodigal  was  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  feeding  on  the  husks  of  swine. 
So  far  the  prodigal  was  but  the  type  and  ex- 
emplification of  the  base  ingratitude  and  deep 
degradation  of  the  sinner.  The  poor  prodi- 
gal entering  into  himself  called  to  mind  the 
home  of  his  father,  its  pure  and  innocent  joys 
and  the  plenty  that  abounded  therein,  and  he 
said,  "  I  will  arise  and  go  home  to  my  father, 
and  I  will  say  to  him,  father,  I  have  sinned 
against  Heaven  and  before  thee;  I  am  no 


no 


REFLECTIONS. 


79 


more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son,  make  me 
one  of  thy  servants/'  And  when  the  poor 
penitent  returned,  the  father  no  longer  re- 
membered the  injury  that  had  been  done 
him  nor  the  base  ingratitude  of  his  erring 
son,  but  he  received  him  with  open  arms 
and  the  heart  of  a  father  went  out  in  pity 
and  forgiveness  to  his  poor  returned  child, 
all  tattered  and  torn  and  travel-stained,  but 
repentant,  he  restored  him  to  the  protection 
and  the  privileges  of  his  home,  and  caused 
rejoicings  to  be  made  because  ''his  son  that 
had  been  dead  was  come  to  life  again,  had 
been  lost  and  was  found."  (Luke  16).  It  is 
thus  our  Saviour  treats  repentant  sinners.  No 
matter  how  base  and  black  their  ingratitude, 
no  matter  how  numerous  and  enormous  their 
offenses,  though  their  sins  were  as  red  as  scar- 
let and  as  deep  as  crimson,  though  they  were 
as  numberless  as  the  leaves  of  autumn,  or  as 
the  sands  of  the  sea-shore,  the  Father  of  the 
prodigal — Jesus  Christ — will  receive  the  re* 
turning  and  repentant  sinners  with  open  arms. 


1 

i 


w 


REFLECTIONS. 


and  will  'restore  them  their  lost  privileges 
and  the  friendship  of  God.  His  precious 
blood  will  blot  out  their  sins  from  the  book 
of  God's  recollection,  and  the  tide  of  His  in- 
finite mercies  will  rise  above  their  wickedest 
transgressions  and  drown  them  in  eternal  ob- 
livion. 

It  would  be  too  tedious  to  dwell  on  other 
instances  of  our  Saviour's  mercy  to  sinners  as 
related  in  the  Gospel,  such  as  the  forgiveness 
of  Magdalen  and  of  the  woman  taken  in 
adultery.  We  may  well  say  with  St.  John, 
that  if  all  that  our  Lord  said  and  did  and  suf- 
fered for  the  salvation  of  sinners  were  writ- 
ten, the  world  itself  would  not  be  able  to  con- 
tain the  books  that  should  be  written.  (John 
21,  xxv).  We  shall  only  call  attention  to  the 
last  dread  scene  on  Calvary.  We  know  that 
our  Saviour  is  there  offered  up  as  a  victim  for 
our  sins.  "  The  Lord,  said  the  prophet,  hath 
laid  upon  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  He  was 
wounded  for  our  iniquities  and  bruised  for 
our  Bins;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was 


REFLECTIONS. 


77 


upon  him  and  by  his  bruises  we  have  been 
healed."  Let  us  now  flscend  in  spirit  to  the 
hill  of  Calvary  to  witness  the  scene  that  is 
there  transpiring,  to  assist  at  the  bloody  but 
all-atoning  sacrifice  of  Jesus  on  the  Cross. 
He  has  already  hung  nearly  three  long  hours 
on  the  ignominious  gibbet,  a  spectacle  to 
angels  and  to  men.  His  life-blood  is  ebbing 
fast  through  the  five  wounds  until  the  fount- 
ains of  the  heart  are  well-nigh  exhausted. 
An  awful  darkness  is  stealing  over  Calvary's 
hill  and  wrapping  it  in  its  pitchy  folds;  the 
graves  are  being  stirred  with  a  strange  life, 
for  the  dead  are  awaking  from  their  sleep  of 
ages,  startled  into  life  by  the  divine  tragedy, 
and  are  about  to  walk  through  the  streets  of 
the  holy  city.  At  this  awful  moment  the  Jews 
cease  not  to  mock  and  deride  our  dying 
Saviour  and  to  scoff  at  His  untold  sorrows 
and  abandonment.  One  would  expect  that 
our  Lord  in  His  justice  would  summon  His 
angels  to  destroy  those  guilty  wretches  and 
rid  the  world  of  deicides,  no  longer  worthy 


■J  I 

If    ^ ' 


i 


fe 


I 


II 


J 


78 


REFLECTIONS. 


to  live.  But  no;  our  blessed  Saviour,  Bum- 
moning  His  remaining  energins,  and  turn- 
ing up  toward  Heaven  His  eyes  that  woro 
swimming  in  tears  of  agony  and  dim  with 
the  shadows  of  approaching  death,  made  a 
last  appeal  for  mercy,  saying:  '*0  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do;"  and,  bowing  His  head.  He  expired. 
His  last  prayer  offered  up  with  His  dying 
breath  upon  the  cross  was  for  pardon  and 
forgiveness  for  the  greatest  sinners,  the  most 
guilty  criminals  that  ever  profaned  God's 
creation. 
One  drop  of  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  shed 
upon  the  cross  would  have  been  sufficient  to 
redeem  a  thousand  guilty  worlds,  and  yot  Ho 
poured  it  all  out  to  the  very  last  drop  ta 
prove  to  us  the  infinitude  of  His  love.  His 
precious  blood  atoned  fully  to  tho  justice  of 
God  for  the  sins  of  mankind,  it  blot:ed  out 
the  handwriting  of  death  that  was  pgainst 
us  and  purchased  us  with  a  .jreat  pTice.  His 
blood  was  shed  for  all  the  children  of  mon. 


REFLECTIONS. 


n 


from  fallen  Adam  down  to  the  last  that  will 
be  born  of  woman.  It  ascended  in  its  re- 
deeming effects  up  through  the  centuries  to 
the  beginning  of  time,  and  will  descend  in  a 
tide  of  mercies  to  the  consummation  of  the 
world.  The  victim,  it  is  true,  was  offered 
only  on  Calvary,  but  the  blood  of  that  victim 
bathed  the  world  in  its  saving  tide,  and 
washed  the  shores  of  all  the  ages.  It  gave  in- 
finite honor  and  glory  to  God,  made  full 
atonement  to  the  Divine  justice,  lifted  up  a 
fallen  world  and  placed  it  once  more  on  the 
plane  of  its  immortal  destinies,*  it  redeemed 
mankind  from  the  curse  of  the  fall,  liberated 
them  from  the  bondage  of  Satan  and  restored 
them  to  the  glorious  freedom  of  the  sons  of 
God  and  to  the  heirship  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven.  We  may,  tlierefore,  truly  and  in 
deepest  gratitude  say  with  the  Church:  "  0 
certe  nccessarium  adae  peccatum  quod  Christi 
morte  deletum  est."  "0  felix  culpa  quaa 
tulem  et  tantum  meruit  habere  Redemptorem.** 
"  0  truly  necessary  sin  of  Adam  which  the 


I 


N 


I 


'li    ! 


80 


REFLECTIONS. 


death  of  Christ  has  blotted  out."  "  0  happy 
fault  that  merited  such  and  so  great  a  Ee- 
deemer." 

Were  we  to  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men 
and  of  angels  wo  would  not  convey  an  ade- 
quate idea  of  all  the  graces,  mercies,  and  bless- 
ings conferred  upon  mankind  by  our  Blessed 
Redeemer.  We  can  only  say  with  the  Psalm- 
ist, that  since  Ilis  advent  *'the  earth  is  filled 
with  the  r  n*cy  of  the  Lord."  Jesus  is,  in- 
deed, our  God  and  our  all,  the  life  of  our  life 
and  the  treasure  of  our  hearts;  tlie  Sovereign 
truth  and  the  Supremo  good,  lie  is  the  au- 
thor and  finisher  of  our  faith,  the  inmov- 
able  anclior  of  our  hope,  the  divine  object 
of  our  charity;  He  is  our  life,  our  sweet- 
ness, and  our  hope  hero,  and  will,  wo 
humbly  trust,  bo  our  exceeding  great  re- 
ward hereafter.  Ho  is  everything  to  us, 
"for  it  would  have  profited  us  nothing, ""says 
the  Church,  "to  be  born  if  we  had  not  been 
redeemed."  0  let  us  give  Him  the  whole  hom- 
age and  service  of  our  being;  let  us  love  Him 


REFLECTIONS. 


81 


with  our  whole  heart  and  soul,  and  mind,  and 
strength.  He  is  our  God,  let  us  adore  and 
worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth;  He  is  our 
Redeemer;  let  us,  never  cease  to  thank  and 
praise  Him,  "for  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  is 
worthy  to  receive  power  and  divinity,  and 
strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  benedic- 
tion," (Apoc.  5,  xi);  He  is  our  Father,  let  ua 
give  him  the  obedience  of  dutiful  children. 
Let  us  give  ourselves  entirely  to  Him  as  He  has 
given  himself  entirely  for  us.  Let  us  often 
say  to  Him  with  St.  Paul,  "  who  shall  sepa- 
rate us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  shall  tribu- 
lation, or  distress,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or 
danger,  or  prosecution,  or  the  sword  ?  .  .  . 
I  am  sure  that  neither  death  nor  life,  .  .  . 
nor  any  other  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesua 
our  Lord."  (Rom.  8,  xxxv-xxxix).  There  is 
but  one  thing,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  that 
can  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ,  and 
that  is  sin.  This  is  the  supreme  evil,  as  God 
is    the  Supremo   good.     Between  God  and 


■I 


I 


m 


i 


m 


\ 


8S 


REFLECTIONS. 


Bin  there  is  an  infinite  distance^  an  inyincible 
contradiction,  an  absolute  opposition.  Sin  is 
the  great  enemy  of  God  and  man,  it  has  filled 
Heaven  with  mourning,  hell  with  wailings 
and  lamentations,  and  the  eurth  with  un- 
told miseries  and  calamities.  It  has  brought 
pestilence,  famine,  sorrow  and  death  into  the 
world.  It  has  caused  all  the  afflictions  that 
have  fallen  on  manl^ind,  all  the  sighs  that 
have  ever  been  heaved  from  the  human 
bosom,  all  the  tears  that  have  ever  fallen 
from  the  eyes  of  men,  it  has  wrung  tearg 
even  from  the  sacred  eyes  of  Jesus  him- 
self, for  if  He  wept  over  the  grave  of  Laz- 
arus and  over  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  it  was 
because  they  smybolized  souls  ruined  and  lost 
by  sin.  It  was  sin  which  nailed  Jesus  to  the 
cross  and  put  Him  to  an  ignominious  death. 
And  so  enormous  is  sin  in  its  intrinsic  malice, 
and  so  injurious  to  God,  that  St.  Paul  does 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  tliey  wlio  commit  it 
**  crucify  again  the  Son  of  God  and  make 
a  mockery  of  Him."    (Hebrews,  C,  vi).  Since, 


REFLECTIONS. 


it 
ke 
e. 


therefore,  sin  is  the  supreme  evil,  since  it  alone 
can  separate  us  from  Christ,  and  render  all 
that  He  has  done  and  suffered  for  us  vain  and 
fruitless,  we  should  detest  it  with  our  whole 
heart  and  soul,  we  should  sincerely  repent  of 
having  ever  committed  it,  and  during  our 
whole  lives,  we  should  do  our  utmost  hy  sin- 
cere repentance  and  penitential  works,  and 
the  worthy  reception  of  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance,  to  repair  the  injury  done  to  God  by 
our  sins,  to  obtain  forgiveness  of  them,  and  to 
obtain  the  grace  of  serving  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter in  holiness  and  justice  all  our  days. 

To  sum  up  all  that  we  have  said:  Our 
Blessed  Lord  is  for  us,  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  our  first  beginning  and  our  last  end; 
our  life,  our  sweetness,  and  our  hope.  He 
is  our  Lord  and  our  Saviour,  the  God  of  our 
hearts,  and  the  God  that  is  our  portion  for- 
ever. He  is  til e  light  of  the  world,  the  salt 
of  the  earth,  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour  of 
mankind.  He  has  spoken  to  men  as  no  man 
had  ever  spoken j  tho  infinite  wisdom  that 


II 


' 


\  4  I 


i 


h 


V'ii 


\ 


i 


-\ 


'II 


81 


REFLECTIONS. 


dwelt  corporally  in  Him  shone  out  on  a  sin- 
darkened  world  with  the  brightness  and  the 
power  of  a  transfiguration.  He  has  changed 
the  whole  current  of  human  history,  and  re- 
versed the  whole  order  of  ideas  that  men  held 
most  dear.  He  has  explained  the  dark  prob- 
lems of  human  life,  and  solved  its  most  per- 
plexing mysteries.  He  has  enlightened  man's 
mind,  and  purified  and  sanctified  his  heart. 
He  has  created  a  new  civilization,  and  intro- 
duced a  new  principle  of  government.  He 
has  raised  up  the  family  from  the  degrada- 
tion inflicted  on  it  by  Paganism,  and  restored 
it  to  its  legitimate  position  in  the  social  order. 
The  cruel  wrongs  of  mankind  He  has  sought 
to  rectify,  and  the  principles  of  eternal 
justice  He  has  firmly  established,  for,  with  a 
Divine  authority,  He  has  taught  the  brother- 
hood ana  equality  of  man,  and,  at  His  words, 
millions  of  the  oppressed  and  the  enslaved 
have  lifted  up  their  heads,  raised  their  fet- 
tered hands  to  Heaven,  and  begun  to  hope. 
Under  the  transforming  power  of  His  teach- 


I 


REFLECTIONS.  li 

ing  and  example,  the  hungry  have  been  fed, 
the  naked  clothed,  the  lonely  and  abandoned 
visited,  the  light  of  blessed  hope  has  shone  in 
the  darkness  of  the  dungeon,  the  prison 
doors  have  opened  to  captives  unjustly  de- 
tained, the  tears  of  the  afflicted  have  been 
dried  up,  the  broken  in  heart  have  been  healed, 
and  the  reign  of  Heaven-born  charity,  with 
all  its  blessed  mercies  and  commiserations, 
has  been  inaugurated  and  perpetuated  upon 
earth.  The  darkness  of  our  place  of  exile 
He  has  lit  up  by  the  revelation  of  eternal 
and  saving  truths  that  will  for  ever  il- 
lumine the  whole  firmament  of  time.  He  has 
atoned  to  the  justice  of  God  for  the  sins  of 
men;  Himself  sinless,  He  took  upon  Himself 
the  sins  of  the  world,  and  washed  tliem  out 
in  His  precious  blood.  He  died  that  man 
might  live;  He  rose  triumphant  from  the  dead 
that  man  might  one  r'it'yrise  glorious  and  im- 
mortal from  the  grave;  in  a  word,  He  has 
redeemed  and  saved  a  lost  and  fallen  world. 
And  although  after  a  time  He  withdrew  His 


I  i 

I' 
I!  ' 


86 


REFLECTIONS. 


I  i 


V 


visible  presence  from  amongst  men,  and 
ascended  into  Heaven  to  resume  His  eternal 
throne.  He  has  left  behind  Him  on  earth  His 
Church  to  continue  the  work  of  human  salva- 
tion and  sanctifijation  which  He  had  in- 
augurated. He  has  made  this  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth  more  vast  and  more  enduring  than 
any  earthly  empire.  He  has  endowed  it  with 
an  undying,  immortal  life;  and  although  na- 
tions will  disappear  from  the  map  of  the 
world,  and  dynasties  be  overthrown,  and  the 
proudest  thrones  be  shattered  into  fragments, 
and  although  the  mightiest  and  greatest  insti- 
tutions of  man  will  crumble  away  into  decay 
and  nothingness,  and  cover  the  earth  with 
their  ruins  and  wrecks,  this  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  earth,  upheld  by  the  everlasting 
arms,  shall  live  on  forever  in  undying  vigor,  in 
enduring  power,  and  undiminished  splendor 
until  that  day  when  Time  himself  will  look 
his  last  on  a  perishing  world;  when  the  sun, 
and  moon,  and  stars  will  drop  from  the 
firmament,  and  when  the  curtaiu  will  fall  for- 


REFLECTIONS. 


87 


ever  on  the  last  act  in  tlie  drama  of  man's 
mortal  existence. 

The  seas  shall  waste,  the  skies  in  smoke 
decay, 

Rocks  fail  to  dust,  and  mountains  melt 
away ; 

But  fixed  His  word,  His  saving  power  re- 
mains, 

His  realm  forever  lasts;  our  own  Messiah 
reigns. 

The  practical  conclusions  to  be  cirawn  from 
these  reflections  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as 
follows: 

1st.  "We  should  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
with  our  whole  heart  and  soul,  for  He  first 
loved  us  and  delivered  Himself  for  us,  and, 
with  St.  Paul,  we  should  count  all  things  as 
valueless  and  vile,  provided  we  gain  Christ  and 
abide  in  his  love  and  friendship. 

2d.  We  should  value  the  salvation  of  our 
immortal  souls  above  all  things,  and  as  the 
great  end  and  object  of  our  existence  here, 
fiiuce  Christ  so  prized  them  us  to  lay  down  his 


( 


88  UEFLECTI0N8. 

life  for  thorn,  and  to  purchiiso  thorn  ovon  by 
tho  shedding  of  Ilia  precious  blood;  and  in 
order  to  urge  ourselves  to  labor  every  day  for 
our  salvation,  wo  should  frequently  put  to  our 
hearts  and  conscionces  the  momentous  ques- 
tion of  our  Lord:  •*Whut  doth  it  profit  a 
man  to  gain  the  whole  world  if  he  lose  his  soul, 
or  what  exchange  s?iall  a  man  give  for  Ins 
soul."  (Math.  IG,  xxviii). 

3d.  Instructed  by  tho  teachings  and  cxniii- 
plo  of  our  blessed  Lord,  we  should  embrace 
poverty,  toil,  sorrows  and  afflictions  as  coming 
from  the  hand  of  God.  Wo  should  accept 
them  with  humble  and  patient  resignation  lo 
tlie  Divine  will,  and  should  make  use  of  thciu, 
in  union  with  tho  merits  of  Christ,  as  occa- 
sions of  merit  and  means  of  sanctification, 
*'for  Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an 
example  that  wo  should  follow  his  steps.'" 
(1  Peter,  3,  xxi). 

4tli.  After  the  example  of  Christ  we  should 
bo  charitable  to  the  poor,  tender  and  compas- 
eiouate  toward  tho  sorrowing  and  afflicted. 


REFLECTIONS. 


89 


kind  and  attontivo  to  tho  sick,  and  forgiving 
and  merciful  to  those  who  have  injured  us, 
"  Blessed  are  tho  merciful,  for  they  shall  ob- 
tain mercy/'  "I  was  hungry  and  you  gavo 
mo  to  oal^,  I  was  a  stran^'cr  and  you  took  mo 
in,  naked  Jind  you  (covered  mo,  sick  and  you 
visited  mo."     (Math.  15,  xxxv). 

5th.  "Wo  sliould  detest  and  abhor  sin  with 
all  tho  oMorgy  of  our  being,  as  it  is  the  su- 
premo evil,  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  man, 
the  cause  of  all  the  calamities  that  have 
scourged  the  earth,  tho  fountain  of  all  the 
bitter  tears  that  have  fallen,  drop  by  drop, 
from  the  eyes  of  man,  and  tho  crucifier  of  the 
Son  of  God  himself.  TV'e  should  heartily  re- 
pent of  our  past  sins  and  firmly  resolve,  with 
tho  assistance  of  G  od's  grace,  never  again  to 
fall  into  this  dreadful  evil.  And,  in  order  to 
avoid  this  evil  of  sin  and  to  bo  ablo  to  do  tho 
good  and  to  practice  tho  virtues  tliat  God  re- 
quires of  us,  wo  should  make  use  of  the  means 
of  grace  that  Christ  in  His  mercy  lias  institu- 
ted for  this  purpose,  viz.,  fervent  and  constant 


90 


REFLECTIONS. 


prayer,  the  frequent  and  worthy  reception  of 
the  Sacraments,  and  pious  and  regular  attend- 
ance at  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  We 
should  also  avoid  the  occasions  of  sin,  for  they 
who  love  danger  shall  perish  in  it. 

In  conclusion,  we  should  constantly  cherisli 
with  deep  and  abiding  gratitude  the  memory 
of  all  that  our  Blessed  Lord  did  and  suffered 
for  us.  His  dear  imago  should  ever  remain 
enshrined  in  our  hearts,  and  His  sacred  namo 
should  be  ever  on  our  lips,  our  heart's  affections 
should  frequently  find  expiession  in  the  burn- 
ingwordsof  St.  Augustine.  "0  beauty  ever 
ancient  and  always  new;  too  late  have  I  known 
Tiiee!  too  late  have  I  loved  Thee!"  and 
kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  Crucifix  we  should 
frequently  and  lovingly  say  to  our  beloved 
Saviour: 

'  Lord  of  my  heart,  by  Thy  last  cry. 
Let  not  Thy  blood  on  earth  be  spent 

Lo,  at  Thy  feet  I  fainting  lie, 
Mine  ej'es  upon  thy  wounds  are  bent. 


. 


REFLECTIONS. 


01 


of 
d- 

re 

sh 

ry 

3(1 

in 

10 

ris 
ti- 
er 
'11 
id 
Id 


Upon  Thy  etreaming  wounds  my  weary 

eyes 
Wait  like  the  parched  earth  on  April 
skies. 

*'  Wash  me,  and  dry  these  bitter  tears, 

O  lot  my  heart  no  further  roam,         " 
Tis  Thine  by  vows  and  hopes  and  fears 
Long  since— O,  call  Thy  wanderer  home, 
To  that  dear  home,  safe  in  Thy  wounded 

side, 
Where  only  broken  hearts  their  sin  and 
shame  may  hide." 

[the  end.] 


